[Ming]

I had read a few things here and there, so I decided to follow up. My conclusion? There's a lot more GM DNA in Daewoo cars (In particular the Chevy Optra / Suzuki Forenza) than I had thought:

Lacetti / Optra info

Called Lacetti in Korea (Chevy Optra in Canada), the Nubira is the product of United Nations, like its predecessor. If you remember, the last generation was styled by Italy IDEA, employed Australia Holden engines and was helped engineered by Germany Porsche using Opel Vectra suspensions. The new Nubira is a similar story. The styling comes again from Italian - this time the more famous Pininfarina studio. The engines are again bought from Holden. The chassis was tuned in UK by an anonymous consultant company (believed to be Lotus). It was developed during the hard time Daewoo went into receivership and was finished by new owner General Motors.  

Thanks to GM's quality control procedures, the new Nubira feels well built and robust. Durability tests carried out on the hot and rough-surfaced Australian roads should result in pretty good reliability, showing the company intention to revert the poor image of Korean cars.

http://irishcar.com/daewooleganzabb.htm

In the mechanical department, Daewoo?s continuing association with General Motors continues as the 2-litre engine is developed with the help of GMs Australian subsidiary Holden.
Thats a good start, because the Ozzies are picky about having their engines reliable under extremer circumstances than well ever get in Ireland this side of a total global-warming meteorological transformation.
They also like them to be smooth. In both areas the Leganza?s motor qualifies comfortably. Power output at 133bhp is maybe marginally up on the class average, but anyway is adequate.

http://www.fastlane.com.au/Reviews/Leganza.htm

Leganza is the third member of the trilogy of cars developed by Daewoo since it parted company with GM in 1992.

And, like its more compact and modest stablemates the Lanos and Nubira, the upmarket Leganza too was developed in a programme of international `guest engineers'.

For instance, the body was designed by ItalDesign and Giorgetto Giugiaro (guess where they're from), with various other contributions from around the world. Including under the hood - an Australian-made 2.0 litre twin-cam engine from General Motors Holden.

http://www.autoweb.com.au/section_1/id_DAE...wcars/info.html

Powertrain

Daewoo will use a two-litre, DOHC four cylinder engine in Leganza which is supplied by General Motors Holdens in Australia. The latest generation engines, known as D-TEC, were jointly developed by Daewoo and GM-H and feature new Daewoo-designed intake and exhaust components as well as a new engine control system. Engineers focussed on refinement and efficiency to produce a quieter, smoother powerplant which complements the extensive refinement of the total vehicle.

 

[Hudson]

The Daewoo Magnus (replacing the Leganza, and sold in the US as the Suzuki Verona) is powered by an all-Daewoo 2.5L DOHC inline six. Gone is the GM/Holden four-cylinder, which was the Leganza's weakest point.

 

[b1ancardi]

I'm pretty damn sure Holden never made their own 4 cyl. anyways, if they did, it would have been in the early 80s.

Holdens last engine they made was the 5.0L V8. and they stopped making that about 7 or 8 years ago. The engine they made before that was their old inline 6 cyl, which was last used on the 1985 VK Commodore.......

 

[Hudson]

Holden builds (or assembles) engines. Last thing I saw stated that the four-cylinder units used in the Lanos, Nubira, and Leganza were sourced from Holden. They're old-tech GM engines designed by Opel. I do know for a fact that Holden is producing the new "High Feature" V6 and supplying it to the Buick Rendezvous.

 

[aball]

Holden has been making the "Family II" four cylinder engines for many years for use in Vauxhalls, Opels and Daewoos.

According to Holden:

"2002 Exports Total Engines: 94,559
Engines and Components: $150.5 million

In 2002, Holden Family II four cylinder engines are exported to Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, North America, South Africa and South Korea."


Holden Engine Exports

 

[aball]

Previously Holden were purely engine suppliers to Daewoo. Things changed last year when GM 'rescued' Daewoo with Holden becoming GM's shareholder in Daewoo.

"The components of Holden’s involvement with Daewoo operations will be as follows – GM Daewoo

Holden will be the GM shareholder in GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Company (GM Daewoo), holding 42.1 per cent of the common shares of the company. The shareholding is worth US$251 million.

Other shareholders will be Suzuki (14.9 per cent), Shanghai Automotive Industries Corporation (10 per cent) and Daewoo Motor Company creditors (33 per cent).

Peter Hanenberger will be a Director on the GM Daewoo board, providing a common factor between Holden and Daewoo and playing a key role in strategically linking the two companies."

I don't know whether Dennis Mooney (new Holden MD) replaces Hanenberger at GM Daewoo since the his retirement.

Holden-Daewoo Press Release