Uzbekistan, Tashkent, May 29 / Trend D.Azizov /
The Uzbek-American joint venture (JV) GM Uzbekistan, formerly UzDaewooAuto JSC based in the city of Asaka, in the Andijan region, will start producing a new car model Chevrolet Gentra in September, a source in the government circles told Trend on Wednesday.
According to the source, the new C-class car designed on the platform of the Chevrolet Lacetti, is equipped with a four-cylinder DOHC petrol engine with a displacement of 1.5 litres and 105 horsepower.
The cost of the project for the production of the new model is $23.4 million and will be self-financed through GM Uzbekistan. In the initial stage, the company expects to produce 20,000 Chevrolet Gentra cars.
The bulk of the production will be exported. Last week, GM Uzbekistan held a demonstration of the car in Moscow.
UzDaewooAuto was created in 1996 on a parity basis by the Government of Uzbekistan and South Korea's Daewoo Motor.
In 2005, Uzbekistan Daewoo bought shares in the joint venture. In 2007, Uzavtoprom and General Motors signed an agreement to set up GM Uzbekistan with charter capital of $266.7 million, where the U.S. side has a 25 per cent stake 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 JSC.
Currently, GM Uzbekistan JV produces eight models of cars. As previously reported, in 2012, GM Uzbekistan JV increased car production by 6.4 per cent to 235,518 units compared to 2011.