Tashkent, Aug. 25 (Interfax) - GM Uzbekistan (formerly UzDaewooAuto based in Asaka in the Andizhan region) will start exporting Chevrolet Spark cars to Russia in 2011.
"Sales of Chevrolet Spark will start on August 26 on Uzbekistan’s market. Exports of the new model will start in 2011," the source said. The source did not specify the exact timing of the export’s start.
It was earlier reported that the production of Chevrolet Spark cars at GM Uzbekistan commenced this August. This is the seventh model to be produced at the GM Uzbekistan’s assembly line.
The project’s design capacity comes to 50,000 cars a year, of which 20,000 will be reserved for export.
The project was financed through loans and GM Uzbekistan’s own funds.
GM Uzbekistan and General Motors DAT signed a contract in September 2008 for supplying cars and equipment for organizing production of the new model (under the working name M300).
Uzbekistan’s Cabinet of Ministers issued a decree in January 2009 for organizing this model’s production at the Asaka plant. Implementation of this project took less than two year.
UzDaewooAuto Co. was set up under parity conditions by the Uzbek government and Korean automotive company Daewoo Motor. In 1996, the company started the construction of its automotive plant in Andizhan region, with production capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year.
In October 2005, Uzbekistan bought 50% of Daewoo Motor’s shares in UzDaewooAuto Co. In October 2007, Uzavtoprom, which at that point was the holder of 100% of the UzDaewooAuto Co. shares, and General Motors signed an agreement to create the joint venture GM Uzbekistan at UzDaewooAuto Co. for the purposes of producing and selling Chevrolet vehicles. GM owns 25% of the joint venture.
At present, GM Uzbekistan turns out six car models, two of which are Chevrolets – Captiva and Epica.
