Uzbekistan, Tashkent, April 17 / Trend D.Azizov /
In January-March 2013, JV 'GM Uzbekistan' (former OJSC 'UzDaewooAuto', Asaka, Andijan province) increased automobile production by 12.1 percent compared to the same period last year up to 45.631 million units, a source in government circles told Trend on Wednesday,.
Since the beginning of the year the automobile plant produced 12.889 million Nexia cars (an 8.4-percent decline), 6.893 million Matiz cars (a 20.4-percent decline), 4.49 thousand Damas cars (a 2.9-percent increase), 4.891 million Lacetti (a 36-percent increease), 434 Captiva (a 74.4-percent decline), 6.148 million Spark (a 2.3-percent increase).
According to the source, the company produced 472 Chevrolet Malibu and 9 412 Chevrolet Cobalt cars in January-March, 2013, the production of which was started in late February and September last year, respectively. Chevrolet Epica cars were not produced in January-March, 2013.
UzDaewooAuto was established in 1996 on a parity basis by the Uzbek government and South Korea's Daewoo Motor Company.
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 the Chevrolet - Captiva, Epica and Spark. As it was reported, in February the company started manufacturing a new car model - sedan Chevrolet 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.