23.1.2004
GM Daewoo grows fast in stagnant European market

Against the trend of the European passenger car market, newcomer GM Daewoo posted continually rising sales in 2003, the company's first full year of business. While January 2003 sales were still below 2002 levels (- 23.8%), the year-on-year increase in December was a full 72.2 %. Overall GM Daewoo sold 133,000 cars in Western and Central Europe in 2003, an increase of 21.6% over the 2002 total of 109,000. The company's market share increased from 0.6 to 0.75.

In 2003, the company's biggest selling markets were Italy with over 34,000 registrations (up 9%) and Spain with close to 23,000 cars sold (up 33%). Progress was equally rapid in Southeast Europe where sales increased by 31% to over 14,000 units. The highest growth rates, however, were recorded in smaller, northern European markets. Starting from modest thresholds, Denmark and Norway achieved staggering increases of 480 and 247 percent. There was dramatic growth in larger markets, too. In Germany, 12,800 Daewoo cars were sold in 2003, more than three times as many as in the year before.

The potential for GM Daewoo to continue its rapid growth in Europe is considerable. Established in October 2002, the new company was quick to set up new sales organizations to augment the eight European subsidiaries it acquired from Daewoo Motor Co. In late 2003, GM Daewoo started operating in a series of Eastern European countries. 2004 will see the establishment of more new sales organizations in markets such as Turkey and Poland.

For regionally specific reasons, GM Daewoo will sell its products as Chevrolet in many of these new markets. "Chevrolet is already the brand of choice for our Korean parent company to sell its products in numerous markets all over the world", says Hardy Spranger. "Being a member of the GM family opens all sorts of doors for us. Being able to work with our "sister-brand" Chevrolet allows us to enter high-potential markets that would otherwise have been difficult for us to access."

GM Daewoo's success in 2003 was not restricted to Europe. Global sales surged 51.4 % to 570,000 from 375,000 in 2002. With the Korean domestic market suffering from prolonged economic depression, exports played a disproportionately significant role, reaching 443,000 units, almost twice the figure for 2002. In December 2003 alone, the company exported 58,000 cars, a year-on-year improvement of 192 %.