Ankush Arora, GM Korea’s vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing, Â that GM could build the Volt in South Korea — perhaps in Bupyeong — if global demand went up.
“As far as producing the Volt in Korea is concerned, there is no such plan. But if global demand for the model surges, the company may consider rolling out the Chevrolet Volt in South Korea,” he said during a press briefing. However, this does not mean that GM will be siphoning work from the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, where the Volt is currently built. The fact of the matter is that if GM chooses to sell the Volt in more markets all over the world, then they will need another plant to produce the amount necessary. To point, Arora claims that GM is currently mulling over selling the Volt in South Korea itself.
“We have not fixed any timing for the launch of the Volt. It’s too early for us to comment whether Korea will be the first Asian market or the second Asian market [after China in which we will] launch the Volt.”
Comment
Toyota and Honda had this problem too, in the late 1979’s there products were so successfull in North America that shipping costs ate into profits, they predicted continued dominance and growth and so they invested in plants here. Hope GM’s getting sweethart deals on local taxes and such in Korea the same way Toyota and the other Japanise companies got in North America 30 odd years ago.