GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co (GMDAT) plans to export its vehicles to Japan next spring using the distribution network of Suzuki Motor Corp., Japan’s fifth-largest automaker, according to a report carried in a Japanese newspaper.
“In order to diversify its product lineups and lend support to GM Daewoo, Suzuki will market two GM Daewoo-based models, including the mid-sized Magnus sedan, under the brand Chevrolet of GM,” said the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
“Utilising its own dealer network, the Japanese automaker plans to sell combined annual volumes of 5,000 to 6,000 units nationwide, but the prices have not been settled yet,” the newspaper noted.
GMDAT is currently finding its feet and in recovery mode. Recovery in GM-Daewoo’s European markets has been very slow, according to company president Nick Reilly, because the distribution channels in Europe’s two largest markets had gone and had to be rebuilt.
Speaking in Frankfurt last week, he claimed that GMDAT’s global sales were well balanced with 2004 forecasts of 600,000 split fairly evenly between the Far East, North America and Europe. In 2002, worldwide sales were just 350,000.
“Our target is a million sales a year, but that is some four years away,” said Reilly.
