Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Nov. 25
By Demir Azizov - Trend:
GM Uzbekistan JV (former UzDaewooAuto in Asaka, in the Andijan region) began producing a new Chevrolet car model, Uzavtosanoat said today.
According to the report, the new Chevrolet Gentra car is a modernized model of Chevrolet Lacetti car, produced by the car plant since 2008.
Chevrolet Gentra differs from Lacetti by the increased volume of four-cylinder engine (up to 1.5 liters) compared to 1.05 liters earlier and 105 hp capacity.
The exterior and interior car design was changed. The new model will be sold as Daewoo Gentra in an export variant.
At the first phase, around 20,000 new cars will be produced a year and Gentra will completely replace Chevrolet Lacetti in the future.
The cost of the project is $ 23.4 million. It was financed at GM Uzbekistan's own expense.
UzDaewooAuto JSC was created in 1996 on a parity basis by the Uzbek government and South Korea's Daewoo Motor Company.
In 2005 Uzbekistan bought Daewoo shares in a joint venture. In 2007 Uzavtoprom and General Motors signed an agreement to establish a basis for the GM Uzbekistan plant with an authorised capital of $266.7 million. The American side owns 25 per cent of the shares plus one share in the enterprise, with the possibility of increasing it to 40 per cent. Currently, 75 per cent of the shares belong to Uzavtoprom.
Currently, GM Uzbekistan JV produces eight models of cars.
In 2012, GM Uzbekistan JV increased its car production by 6.4 per cent compared to 2011 which was up to 235,518 units.