Around 100 owners of Chevrolet vehicles in Thailand are suing General Motors (GM), accusing the US carmaker of violating vehicle purchase agreements, according to local reports.
This followed the announcement last month GM planned to sell its car assembly plant in Rayong to Great Wall Motors and withdraw the Chevy brand from the country by the end of the year.
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The US automaker also planned to "wind down" its sales, engineering and design operations in Australia and sales operation in New Zealand which employ a combined 830 people, and "retire" the Australian Holden brand, launched in 1948, by 2021.
The Thai Chevrolet car owners, after meeting with consumer rights groups, said they would return their cars to General Motors Thailand and sue the company.
They claim after sales service is a major factor in choosing a vehicle brand and that they had been misled by GM's advertising which gave the impression the company would be around in the local market for the long term.
Owners suggested GM had inevitably been planning to withdraw from the market for some time while still urging consumer to buy their cars.
General Motors Thailand insisted its exit complied with local regulations and that owners could still have their Chevrolet cars serviced at any of the 87 outlets nationwide.
