GM Daewoo May Auto Sales Rise 45% On Year

[Ming]

South Korea's GM Daewoo May Auto Sales Rise 45% On Year
By Kyong-Ae Choi
Last Update: 5:33 AM ET Jun 1, 2007

SEOUL (MarketWatch) -- GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Corp., said Friday that May sales rose 45% on year to 87,525 units from 60,490 units, helped by brisk sales of mini cars and recreational vehicles.

"Higher demands for mini car Matiz and the sport utility vehicle Winstorm at home and in overseas markets, mainly in Europe," boosted sales last month, a company spokesman said.

Local sales rose 22% to 11,637 units in May from 9,559 units in the same month a year earlier, while exports climbed 49% on year to 75,888 units from 50,931 units.

During the first five months of this year, GM Daewoo sold a total of 398,955 units, up 32% from 301,906 units a year ago.

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...E7A97F6E79C%7D

[IROCNROL1]

A bright spot is a bright spot.

How's your new car doing, Ming? Mileage up to expectations?

[xPUMPx]

wonder how long they can keep this up before leveling off for a while?
they have been a very bright spot for some time now!
Keep it up Daewoo!

[SUPERBADD75]

i've said it before and i'll say it again; this is not what i thought we'd be seeing when GM bought into Daewoo. it's turning out to be a pretty good deal for them, and i think it's great. now use them to bring minicars to America. despite all the naysayers, i think there's a market to feed.

[Geotpf]

Originally Posted by SUPERBADD75

i've said it before and i'll say it again; this is not what i thought we'd be seeing when GM bought into Daewoo. it's turning out to be a pretty good deal for them, and i think it's great. now use them to bring minicars to America. despite all the naysayers, i think there's a market to feed.

It is rather suprising how much Daewoo has turned around since GM bought it. As for minicars being imported into the US-there's no profit there (and whatever market there is will be eaten up by Smart, who will get there first). They are only really profitable in countries that have very high (>$5) gas prices, tax breaks for cars with small exterior dimensions and small engine displacement, and old, crowded cities, none of which describes America. GM certainly could sell some at a loss, but why?

[Masospaghetti]

so that tiny thing gets projector lights, but the Malibu, Impala, G6, Aura all don't...

[Ming]

Originally Posted by IROCNROL1

A bright spot is a bright spot.

How's your new car doing, Ming? Mileage up to expectations?

Yes. I'd read a horror story or two about city fuel economy, but I don't live in the city so...

I bought just a tad over 11 gallons (11.2), marking the spot where I filled up. I set my trip odometer before leaving the gas station. I've gone 300 miles and I'm nearly back to where I filled up. Not bad for a new engine (about 450 miles on it). Nice and smooth with good power, only lacking on hard acceleration, runs around 1500-2000 RPM most of the time. Cheers to the Aussies at Holden who built it!

I don't sit in traffic or idle too much, and my commute is mostly on country roads with traffic only on the way home. No issues/problems with the car at all. Oh, that's my new DivX capable + HDMI & Upconvert DVD player I bought for 44 bucks. Looks good on my 42-inch plasma (that unfortunately does not appear to support progressive scan). Mostly I like it because now I can just pop in DVDs with multiple movies on them without powering up my XP workstation media PC...

i've said it before and i'll say it again; this is not what i thought we'd be seeing when GM bought into Daewoo. it's turning out to be a pretty good deal for them, and i think it's great. now use them to bring minicars to America. despite all the naysayers, i think there's a market to feed.

GM's traditional enthusiasts are not like Scion enthusiasts. Until only recently being a GM fan for most (but not all) meant you were into 4x4 trucks, F-bodies, or Corvettes. That's not the most welcoming crowd of enthusiasts for GM's purchase of a value-conscious, scrappy little car maker like Daewoo, modern styling touches by Italdesign or not.

I remember well all of the negativity the idea of bringing over the Aveo garnered initially. But they've proven to be reliable little A to B transport cars for the money, and unlike the Cavalier it was only a couple of years before the car got a significant facelift--- something GM has decided to deny the Cobalt of. GM needs Daewoo if only for the fact that they recognize the importance in keeping small cars current in their styling, whereas Detroit's Beancounters will find 10 reasons to let cars like the Cobalt and Focus languish unchanged without needed updates. GM Daewoo's biggest problem has been its carryover Daewoo platforms and engines, but its done an impressive job with what its had to work with. I think the U.S. market is ready for another larger GM brand badged Daewoo. It just needs to fit a unique niche or replace a car GM is not making money on by domestic production, not like Canada where Chevy offers the Optra and the Cobalt, and offered the Malibu and Epica side by side.

[nadepalma]

Outstanding news. Good post Ming. And glad to hear that the car is working out well for you --- I'm happy you're thrilled so far with your purchase.

Originally Posted by xPUMPx

wonder how long they can keep this up before leveling off for a while?
they have been a very bright spot for some time now!
Keep it up Daewoo!

Honestly, I think it will be awhile before it starts to level off. I think that with GM pouring more and more direct investment monies into GMDAT, there won't be a leveling off point for some time. However, I will suspect that the jumps and gains maybe smaller in teh coming years -- we won't see "45%" next year, but perhaps more "8% or 13%" jumps etc.

Honestly though, there is SO much good stuff coming from GMDAT, GM-E and GM-H in the coming few years thanks to this "One-GM/One-Engineering & Design" format that GMDAT will continue to prosper. You have the new Gamma platform to spawn the next Aveo, Matiz and Corsa, you have the next Delta platform that GM-E is taking the lead on, but will be built in S. Korea for export by GMDAT ----- all great stuff. Can't wait to see how it all pans out.

Originally Posted by Ming

This is what the Matiz/Spark SHOULD have looked like. GM teased folks in Europe and elsewhere with the m3x concept a bit and then we got the regular Matix. It's obviously derivative, but still, this one looks much nicer.

More Pics of the concept:

[chrisbenz]

Originally Posted by xPUMPx

wonder how long they can keep this up before leveling off for a while?
they have been a very bright spot for some time now!
Keep it up Daewoo!

Look how long Toyota and Honda have been growing. I think there is still room to grow.

[xPUMPx]

i dunno how anyone with kids gets by with trunk/hatches that small...

[mcool]

Originally Posted by Geotpf

It is rather suprising how much Daewoo has turned around since GM bought it. As for minicars being imported into the US-there's no profit there (and whatever market there is will be eaten up by Smart, who will get there first). They are only really profitable in countries that have very high (>$5) gas prices, tax breaks for cars with small exterior dimensions and small engine displacement, and old, crowded cities, none of which describes America. GM certainly could sell some at a loss, but why?

GM needs to study, appreciate, and ultimately swiftly determine whether selling these cars at a loss would still provide enough positive PR benefit to justify the expense. Hypothetically, if GM could roll out the triplets globally (wishful thinking) including the US, they could justify an ad campaign that touts they have the "leanest, greenest, cheapest" cars on the market. Tout the overall affordability of the product and pursue that type of halo much in the same way Toyota has succesfully done with the Prius.

I agree, there's no money to be made on that type of product when the dominant volume in our market is large cars and trucks. But the growth of Scion, Mini, Aveo, Prius, and the entrance of Smart seems to indicate there's that slice of the market inclined to associate good perception with small product.

[Ming]

Originally Posted by xPUMPx

i dunno how anyone with kids gets by with trunk/hatches that small...

I think of cars like the Aveo and Matiz as the equivalent of the old 2-door hatchbacks or the 70's and 80's. Difference is, these new hatches have been able to squeeze 2 more doors in - like the 2 doors the rear seats must fold for any utility.

[paul8488]

That updated Matiz looks great! It may cost a bit to do even mild updates liket hat, but GM should really do it more often. Done right it can really freshen a dated car... the Trailblazer and Lucerne and Lacrosse (not just the Supers) and Cobalt all could use a little prop-up like that.