Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Sept 5 /Trend D.Azizov/
Uzbek-American joint venture GM Uzbekistan (formerly JSC UzDEUavto Asaka, Andijan region) began production of a new car model Chevrolet Cobalt, a source in the government circles told Trend.
Chevrolet Cobalt is equipped with a gasoline engine DOHC with cylinder capacity of 1.5 liters, 106 horsepower output, combined with a five-speed manual transmission. The estimated fuel consumption - 6.2 l/100 km. In emerging markets, it will be the only model of B class, which can be ordered with a six-speed automatic transmission.
The cost of the project for the production of the new model was $136.12 million; it is financed at own expense of GM Uzbekistan.
The design capacity of Chevrolet Cobalt production is 125 thousand vehicles per year.
It is expected that the official presentation of the Chevrolet Cobalt will be on Wednesday, then the selling of the car will begin in the country. Sales of the new model are scheduled to begin in Russia since 2013.
JSC UzDaewooAuto was established 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 establish a basis for the GM Uzbekistan plant with charter capital of $266.7 million. The American side owns 25 per cent of 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.
At present, JV GM Uzbekistan produces eight models of cars, four of which are manufacture through SKD technology( Chevrolet - Captiva, Epica, Spark and Malibu). Other models are released within the full-scale production.
The company increased production by 2.1 per cent in 2011 to 221,445 cars compared to 2010.