GM Europe has confirmed that beginning in the autumn of 2007, the Aveo, Chevrolet’s small four-door sedan, will be built at a production facility (FSO) in Warsaw in Poland for sale throughout Europe.
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The official news follows reports earlier this week that a deal had been done with the FSO plant’s owner UkrAVTO of Ukraine.
An all-new, three- and five-door hatchback variant will be assembled at the same location from mid-2008.
The current Aveo (called Kalos in some markets) is Chevrolet’s best-selling model in Europe, with registrations totaling 78,500 in the first nine months of this year.
Building the vehicle in Europe will allow Chevrolet to satisfy continuing high demand and shorten delivery times (currently from Asia) while reducing logistics costs as well as currency risks for the company.
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By GlobalDataGM said that the move will also make it easier to allocate vehicles produced at GM’s Korean manufacturing facilities for sale in Asia and in the USA.
Michael A. Grimaldi, president and CEO of GM Daewoo, said: “Assembly in Europe will help ensure the continued growth of the Chevrolet brand in Europe, and give GM Daewoo much needed manufacturing flexibility to meet the strong global demand for our most popular vehicle.”
Wayne Brannon, executive director of Chevrolet Europe, said: “We need more Chevys to meet European demand. Wherever possible, it just makes sense to build where we sell.”
Chevrolet’s sales in Europe have grown from 190,000 in 2004 to what is expected to exceed more than 300,000 in 2006.
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. The initial phase of Chevrolet production will secure more than 1,000 jobs among the current FSO workforce.
The Warsaw plant in which the Aveo will be built is owned and managed by General Motors’ long-standing Ukrainian partner, UkrAVTO. The company currently manufactures and distributes Chevrolet vehicles in Ukraine, where the brand has a market share of more than 8%.
