GM's Daewoo debuts Spark

General Motors Co’s South Korean unit introduced the Spark minicar, the first step in a 150-plus country roll-out, as the automaker seeks a revival by focusing more on small vehicles and Asian operations.

GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co will begin selling the Spark domestically, under the name Matiz Creative, from September 1, it said in an e-mailed statement today. The car, fitted with a 1-liter gasoline engine and a four-speed automatic transmission, can travel 17 kilometers (10.6 miles), per litre.

Incheon, South Korea-based GM Daewoo has become the global center for GM’s development of mini and small cars, as the carmaker adds more fuel-efficient vehicles amid rising concern about oil prices and the environment. GM, the world’s No 2 automaker, collapsed into US government ownership amid tumbling domestic sales and plunging demand for sport-utility vehicles and trucks.

“The Spark can trigger a sales recovery for GM and help cement GM Daewoo’s role within GM,” said Sohn Myung Woo, a Seoul-based analyst at Woori Investment & Securities Co. “It has a symbolic importance for both GM Daewoo and its parent.”

GM Daewoo spent 295 billion won ($236 million) over 27 months developing the car. In South Korea, it will cost from 9.06 million won ($7,200) to 10.09 million won, with three sub models. A version with a manual transmission may be added from early 2010 depending on demand, according to the statement.

GM Daewoo will start export production of the minicar late this year.

Overseas sales will begin in early 2010, starting in Europe, where the car will wear the Chevrolet badge, the company said. The model will be marketed in the US in 2011, the first minicar GM will introduce in the country, Michael Grimaldi, GM Daewoo’s chief executive officer, told reporters in Seoul.

“This is an important model for both GM Daewoo and the new GM to grow in global markets,” he added.

GM is focusing on smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles in a bid to lure customers back from Toyota Motor Corp and Hyundai Motor Co. The carmaker will introduce the Volt, an electric car set to have a range more than four times as long as Toyota’s Prius, late next year.

The automaker is also boosting its presence in Asia as the region withstands the global recession that has hit car sales in the US and Europe.

In China, the carmaker expects full-year sales growth of at least 20 per cent, following a 78 per cent jump last month, Kevin Wale, president of its China operations, said in a Bloomberg TV interview in Shanghai today.

GM Daewoo is talking to its main creditor Korea Development Bank for additional loans after using up a $2 billion credit line. Its vehicle sales fell 47 per cent in the first seven months to 306,073, the company said on August 3. Local sales dropped 33 per cent, while exports slumped 50 per cent.