GM is considering deepening cooperation with Polish producer, FSO.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
GM Europe announced in July that it is seeking more production capacity in eastern Europe, raising fears amongst unions and workers’ representatives in western Europe that GM would shift more production east. According to Automobilwoche, Forster has suggested that the most probable answer is an expansion of the cooperation with FSO.
Officially however, GM is adamant that there are a number of options under consideration, including the possibility of building a completely new plant.
FSO will start producing the GM-Daewoo-designed Chevrolet Aveo four-door sedan in the autumn. A deal was struck with FSO’s owner UkrAVTO of Ukraine, at the end of last year. Redesigned three- and five-door hatchback variants will also be assembled at the same location from mid-2008. These new cars will succeed the current Kalos/Aveo which comes to Europe from Korea fully assembled.
Production at the FSO facility will increase slowly from some 4,000 cars built in the latter part of 2007 to upwards of 60,000 in the first full year of production in 2008. Further increases to over 150,000 units per year are planned once all three model variants are in place.
Building the vehicle in Europe will allow Chevrolet to satisfy continuing high demand and shorten delivery times while reducing logistics costs as well as currency risks for the company. At the end of last year GM said that the move would also make it easier to allocate vehicles produced at GM’s Korean manufacturing facilities for sale in Asia and in the USA.
According to Automobilwoche, other models under consideration for production in Poland include the Chevrolet Captiva and Opel Antara, which are also GM-Daewoo products.
