GM Uzbekistan JV to Expand Production to New Site

VIENNA – General Motors Uzbekistan, the joint venture owned 25 % by GM and 75 % by the Uzbek state automotive company Uzavtosanoat, plans to produce the Chevrolet/Daewoo Damas small van at a new site in the Khorezm province.

According to a resolution of the Uzbek Cabinet of Ministers, which President Islam Karimov signed last month, output of the Damas will be transferred from GM Uzbekistan’s plant in Asaka to the Khorezm Automobile Production Union facility.

Launch of Damas assemblies on the new site is planned for first-quarter 2014. The switch to full-cycle production is scheduled for fourth-quarter 2014.

Uzbek state will transfer its stake in the Khorezm Automobile Production Union to Uzavtosanoat as a government contribution. GM Uzbekistan will enter long-term rental agreements for parts of the new plant’s production facilities.

The Khorezm factory was established in 1993, when Uzbekistan and Mercedes-Benz signed a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture for assembly of medium- and heavy-duty trucks. However, only a few Mercedes trucks were assembled.

The Damas now is manufactured in South Korea, but GM Korea will phase out production of the small van and its sister-model Labo pickup truck at the end of this year.

Both models previously wore the Daewoo badge in South Korea. After the brand name was changed from Daewoo to Chevrolet, GM Korea decided not to put the Chevrolet badge on either model. Instead, the Damas and Labo remain nameplates without branding.

However, GM Uzbekistan is selling the Damas under the Chevrolet brand in its domestic market. The Uzbek-made Damas still is badged as a Daewoo for export markets, but the exports, which are going mainly to other Commonwealth of Independent States countries, are small.

Last year, GM Uzbekistan manufactured 24,597 Damas vehicles, up 21.8 % from 2011.

According to the Uzbek government, local content of the Damas is about 55 %.

The Uzbek auto maker produced a record 235,518 vehicles in 2012, up 6.4 % from 2011. In addition to the Damas, last year’s total included 83,573 Nexia, 55,443 Matiz, 25,448 Lacetti, 33,027 Spark and the first 5,562 Cobalt cars.

All those vehicles were manufactured at the plant in Asaka. In addition, 4,663 Captiva, 2,663 Malibu and 572 Epica cars were assembled from semi-knocked-down kits at a separate site in Tashkent.

While the newer cars are badged as Chevrolets for both local and export markets, the older Matiz, Nexia and Lacetti models bound for export still wear the Daewoo logo.