GM Daewoo to change name, sell under Chevy brand

SEOUL: GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., said Thursday it is changing its name to GM Korea and will sell most of its cars under the Chevrolet brand.

GM Daewoo said in a statement that all of its new vehicle introductions and changes to existing vehicles this year will be under the Chevrolet nameplate.

The company name change to GM Korea Co. is expected to be completed by March 31. GM Daewoo's board of directors approved the decision Thursday.

The automaker called the name change ``globally consistent with all other GM country operations.''

A few vehicles, including the Alpheon, a large-size sedan, will not be sold under the Chevrolet brand, said Lim Young-mi, a GN Daewoo spokeswoman.

GM Daewoo, South Korea's third-largest automaker after Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., sold 751,453 vehicles last year, with 83 per cent of those exported, Lim said.

Unlisted GM Daewoo was created after Detroit-based GM acquired Daewoo Motor Co., the automobile unit of the Daewoo Group. That conglomerate had collapsed as a result of the financial implosion that hit South Korea in 1997-98, part of the broader Asian economic crisis.