Russian GAZ considers licensing the Lacetti platform from GM Daewoo

[DmitryKo]

http://www.vedomosti.ru/newspaper/ar...8/02/27/142458 (in Russian)

A mix of Korean and Nizny Novgorod's [flavours]
Gleb Stolyarov, Yulia Fedorinova, Angela Sikamova
Vedomosti, 27.02.2008, No 35 (2057)

General Motors is in final talks with the GAZ Group on creating a car-making joint venture. The donor car could very well be the Chevrolet Lacetti

In September 2007, GM and GAZ Group have signed a memorandum with the Ministry of Economic Development outlining a partnership in car production. The partners have not disclosed the details, but our sources revealed the negotiations are based on a possible development of a budget passenger car.

And now, the talks are close to conclusion. ... Marc Kempe, the representative of GM Europe, confimed the fact of negotiation, but declined to disclose any details.

.... The base platform for this affordable car could very well be the Chevrolet Lacetti, our sources confirm. ... The project will require some serious investments on behalf of GAZ Group. About US $1 billion will be spent on new production facilities, initially capable of 50 000 units a year but with possible expansion to 300 000 units.

The partners set a projected price of no more than US $10 000 ... but they will have to work out a way to cut costs, since the most affordable Lacetti retails for $14 000.

... The closest competitor will be the Renault Logan, built at the Moscow-based Autoframos facility. ... Renault has just bought a blocking share of AvtoVAZ and is considering a new wave of models for production, including very affordable cars. 300 000 cars is a very ambitious project for GAZ Group, but if it succeeds, production of Chevrolet-based cars will only rival the Renault-based cars in the future.

I wonder if they are considering the next generation Lacetti based on Delta II platform that is expected to appear by the end of 2008, or the current Lacetti which is based on proprietary GM Daewoo platform?

[NoNameDenton]

GM could make good money doing this and build ties in a country, who like China and India, is a having an increasingly motorized populaton, which is why many reports say Russia is next up form one of the largest car markets