General Motors Celebrates 20th Anniversary of its Korean Operations

2022-10-19

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Changwon – General Motors held a ceremony at its Changwon plant today to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of GM Korea’s foundation. The automaker disclosed details of its massive investment in the plant, presenting its goals and strategies for transforming the company into a growing business in Korea.

The ceremony was designed to recognize the key milestones of GM has made in Korea over the past two decades, introduce the newly innovated Changwon plant with the state-of-the-art facilities to produce the next-gen global vehicle, and present the growth strategies of Korea operations transforming the company into profitable and sustainable business.

GM, the largest foreign-invested company in Korea, has contributed to the advancement of the automotive industry ecosystem in Korea for the last two decades.

At the event, Roberto Rempel, President and CEO of GM Korea spelled out GM’s milestones in Korea:

• GM has invested more than KRW 9 trillion in Korea since its local operations’ foundation in 2002.
• Since 2002, GM has produced about 26 million units of vehicles (12 million complete vehicles and more than 14 million complete knock-down units) in Korea.
• About 24 million units (9.6million complete vehicles and 14.4 million complete knock-down units) have been exported to more than 140 countries.
• GM has offered about 50 Chevrolet and Cadillac models in Korea, selling about 2.4 million units of vehicles over the last 20 years to Korean customers
• GM hired about 12,000 employees and impacting hundreds of thousands of jobs in the country.
• GM’s Korea operations have purchased more than KRW 100 trillion of materials and parts from domestic suppliers.
• GM has paved the way in the country’s EV adaption by introducing long-range BEVs for the first time in Korea.
• GM has donated about 700 units of vehicles and GM employees have volunteered over 200,000 hours of their time to serve local community as a responsible corporate citizen.

 “As the largest foreign investor, GM has been part of the Korean economy’s advancement for the last 20 years, creating jobs, producing, selling and exporting vehicles, and designing and engineering global vehicles while benefitting local communities with our volunteer work,” Rempel said.

“We are proud to contribute to the development of ecosystem in the Korean automotive industry partnering with the part suppliers who were also able to grow their businesses in this journey,” he added.

GM has made large-scale investment in the Changwon and Bupyeong plants for two next-generation global models.

Rempel explained the progress of the recent large-scale investment in Korea:

• GM invested KRW 900 billion in the Changwon plant and KRW 200 billion in the Bupyeong plant in Incheon.
• With the large-scale investment, the Changwon plant is now equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, ensuring greater process flexibility and production efficiency to be transformed to world class manufacturing base for GM.
• A three-story paint shop was built on an area of 80,000 m² in March 2021.
• GM significantly upgraded its facilities between September 2021 and March 2022, including press, body and assembly lines.
• The plant has applied state-of-the-art automated equipment and technologies to each process based on GM’s global standard technologies, securing production efficiency with the ability to manufacture 60 units per hour, from compact to full-size models.

• "I am grateful for the dedication and hard work that all of our GM employees have made to manufacture and supply competitive GM global models to the world," said Shilpan Amin, Senior Vice President and President of GM International. “The success of the next-generation global new car is of paramount importance for the sustainable growth of GM’s operations in Korea.”
• “GM has made a significant investment in the Changwon plant, considering the global demand for the vehicle to be manufactured and exported, starting next year.” Amin said.
• Along with the next-generation global vehicle to be produced at GM's Changwon plant, another axis of large production volume for the global markets is the Chevrolet Trailblazer manufactured at its Bupyeong plant.
• Since its launch in 2020, the Trailblazer has provided domestic consumers with an opportunity to experience GM's global product competitiveness, and more than 380,000 units have been exported as of September.
• Last year, the Trailblazer was the second-most-exported vehicle from Korea, and the vehicle – including its sister model, the Buick Encore GX – ranked first in compact SUV sales in the U.S. market in 2021, establishing itself as one of GM's flagship SUVs.

GM to present a blueprint aiming to transform its Operations in Korea into profitable business through increased exports of next-generation global vehicles and stronger brands strategy for the domestic market providing GM’s diverse portfol

Rempel also emphasized GM's blueprint for its transition to a growing business in Korea:

• GM will maximize the exports volume of the Trailblazer and next-generation global vehicle produced from Korea to the global markets with its annual production capacity of 500,000 units starting from 2023.
• GM will strengthen the domestic sales with an expanded portfolio based on its multi brand strategy.
• By 2025, GM will release 10 EVs in Korea, leveraging GM's global electric vehicle leadership.

“We expect the next-generation global vehicle to follow the Chevrolet Trailblazer in enjoying great success around the world,” said Rempel. “We will serve Korean customers while brining the best vehicles from GM’s global brands, including the Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC, to meet their needs of the various American lifestyles from practicality to the luxury vehicle experiences. To help the carbon neutrality journey in Korea, we will be also supporting Korea to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles with 10 EVs across the brands by 2025.”  

“Korea is playing a significant role in the vehicles sold by General Motors around the world. Together with other GM development hubs, Korea team is working on 20 global products including EVs leveraging their technical expertise to enhance customer experiences everywhere. On the manufacturing side, the next-generation global crossover to be assembled at Changwon will soon become a huge commercial success for GM,” Amin said. “I am very confident that Korea team will continue their incredible work to deliver for our customers every day.”

ABOUT GENERAL MOTORS

General Motors is a global company focused on advancing an all-electric future that is inclusive and accessible to all. At the heart of this strategy is the Ultium battery platform, which powers everything from mass-market to high-performance vehicles. General Motors, its subsidiaries and its joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Baojun and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety and security services, can be found at www.gm.com.

ABOUT GM KOREA COMPANY

GM Korea Company (GM Korea), which is based in Incheon, Korea, was established in 2002 and has about 10,000 employees. In 2021, GM Korea sold 54,292 units in Korea and exported about 182,752 finished vehicles around the world. Additional information on GM Korea and its products can be found at www.gm-korea.co.kr.

Website:

https://media.gm.com/media/kr/en/chevrolet/home.html