Daewoo India To Be Part Of Ford-Gm Parleys

The negotiations for takeover of South Korea's Daewoo Motors by either General Motors or Ford are likely to eliminate some of the existing 10 overseas facilities of the chaebol.

However, the Indian operations are likely to be included in the negotiations, according to the new managing director and chief executive of Daewoo Motors India Ltd, Y C Kim. "My information is that this (Indian) operation is likely to be included in the talks," Kim told newspersons at the company's manufacturing facility in Surajpur.

A GM task team is currently visiting India to understand the market for a mini car and a rural car. There were speculations that the team could visit Daewoo Motor India also to know the strengths and weaknesses of the company here.

 

The Indian arm of South Korean auto major has targeted to break even by the end of 2000-01 by clocking a turnover of Rs 3,100 crore.

According to Kim, the current financial year is likely to close with a turnover of Rs 1,300 crore and much lower losses than last year's Rs 40 crore.

Asked about the factors which would result in such a sharp increase in turnover next financial year, he cited growing domestic demand, huge export orders and export of engines and transmission equipment.

The company expects to sell 80,000 units of Matiz and a total of 6,000 units of Cielo and Nexia and the new luxury car during the next financial year. It also plans to export 4,000 units of Matiz to Italy.

The company would also roll out another variant of its mini-sized car Nexia in early March besides introducing a CNG version of Cielo.

On CNG version of Cielo, Kim said the cost of an imported kit would be about Rs 40,000 but the company has not yet decided about the pricing of this eco-friendly vehicle. The company has also chalked out plans to launch a luxury car in the price range of Rs 9-11 lakh by November and enhance production of existing models to meet the demand.