GM's troubled Korea unit says annual net loss widens to $1.1 billion

DETROIT/SEOUL (Reuters) - General Motors' South Korean unit said on Friday its annual net loss widened to $1.1 billion, its fourth straight year in the red after GM's decision to pull its Chevy brand from Europe led to reduced exports.

GM Korea said its 2017 net loss came in 1.16 trillion won ($1.1 billion), 84 percent bigger than its loss the previous year.

It made an operating loss of 854 billion won, compared to 531 billion won in 2016.

GM Korea said the result was due to large fixed costs for unused facilities and "continuously rising labor costs," adding that business conditions in South Korea and overseas had deteriorated.

In 2017, the company sold 1.068 million vehicles, including 524,547 complete built up (CBU) units and 543,665 complete knock down (CKD) units, down from 1.259 million the previous year.

(Reporting by Joe White in DETROIT and Hyunjoo Jin in SEOUL; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)