Daewoo To Launch 2 Cars; Gets Gm Help

The beleaguered Korean car maker, Daewoo Motors India, is planning to launch two new cars in the country next year.

Young Tae Cho, the managing director and CEO of Daewoo Motors India, made the announcement to a gathering of Daewoo dealers today. He also told them that Daewoo has applied for necessary clearances and approvals from the concerned authorities for the launches.

Daewoo's international automotive operations was in the news recently, when General Motors paid US $400 million in cash and formed a joint venture with the Korean Development Bank, Daewoo's main creditor, with a 67 per cent stake. The joint venture will take over only four of Daewoo's 16 production units across the world, including two in Korea, one in Egypt and the one in Vietnam.

The Indian operations was left out of the loop, but Cho is reported to have told his dealers that GM has offered support to keep things going. "For the past one year, our customers, dealers and associates were worried about the continuous supply of KDs, parts, spares and technical support from Korea to India. GM has assured us of 100 per cent support on this front," Cho is supposed to have told his dealers.

The first car is the revamped Matiz, which will be launched in February 2002 with the existing 800 CC engine, and it will get a new four cylinder 1000 CC engine by June. The Matiz II was unveiled at the Birmingham Motor Show held towards the end of last year.

The other car, codenamed T-200, is the Kalos, which is a cross between a small hatchback and a multi-purpose vehicle. The B-segment Kalos was shown to the world at the Frankfurt Motor Show this September. The Kalos is expected to be launched in Korea in February, and in India, between May and June next year. The Kalos will come with three engine options, a 1200 CC, a 1400 CC and a 1600 CC unit.