Daewoo’s renaissance in the United Kingdom has begun with the appointment of Andy Carroll as managing director-designate of what is currently referred to as “the new GM Daewoo company in the UK”.
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Carroll was previously chief operating officer of the car sales website Oneswoop.com and, before then, was the German-based head of commercial vehicle sales for General Motors Europe. He will report to Hardy Spranger, recently appointed executive-in-charge of GM Daewoo Auto and Technology Europe.
Former Rover group and Trafficmaster public relations chief Denis Chick has also joined the new UK Daewoo organisation as public affairs manager designate.
Chick told just-auto that the transition team is currently sharing office space at Vauxhall’s Luton headquarters and that details of a more permanent location would be announced soon.
The company is in the process of establishing a new wholesale and retail distribution organisation which will retail cars through a conventional independent dealer network rather than the directly-owned Daewoo Centres and smaller independently-run satellite dealers used by Ricksmansworth-based Daewoo UK.
Chick said most arrangements should be finalised by early October.
“It’s a huge legal process but we expect formal closure by then. The existing organisation is winding down and we expect a seamless hand-over in a new location by then,” he added.
Chick said it was likely that some current Daewoo UK staff would transfer to the new organisation.
“We have certain legal obligations with the old organisation,” he said.
The new UK Daewoo distributor’s first task is to launch the new Kalos range, first shown at the Geneva motor show last March.
The attractive newcomer has already been launched in South Korea and will be sold in the UK and Europe with a choice of five-door hatchback and four-door saloon body styles, 1.2 and 1.4-litre petrol engines and manual or automatic transmission.
The Kalos will compete with the Honda Jazz (Fit), Citroen C3, Ford Fiesta, Suzuki Liana and Mitsubishi Colt Space Star when it goes on sale in the UK late in the fourth quarter this year.
The sedan version looks very similar to the Liana saloon also revealed at Geneva.
