During a rare appearance in the limelight on CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning, General Motors CEO Dan Akerson addressed the growing hostility of North Korea, and said the situation could cause The General to move production from South Korea to somewhere else if need be.
“We are making contingency plans for the safety of our employees as best we can,” Akerson said on the show. “You’ve got to think about where you have the continuity of supply and safety of your assets and your employees.”
Currently, the two South Korean-built cars sold by GM in the United States are the Buick Encore and Chevrolet Spark, but several other models are also built at GM’s South Korean operations and exported globally, including the Chevrolet Cruze, Trax and Orlando.
Comments
Will it affect the Mokka & Antara?
Seriously doubt this will escalatr, but hey mexico anyone…
Scary stuff going on.
It could be a good thing for european plants!
I think GM is just being ready for anything.
The thing that is different over their this time is the N Korean leader in charge now was not raised in the real world and we do not know if he has a real grasp of his actions. His father and grandfather were nuts but they knew they would pay the price for any actions. Also they knew they needed China.
At this point the nut job has not responded Well to China.
Our admin here went and sent the planes over last week and I think they found they over extended their reaction. It was no secret to anyone we can bomb who ever from Missouri. They have scaled that back and are better now working to put a anti missile shield up. I bet the star wars program looks a lot better to them than it did 30 years ago.
Any ways GM needs to be prepared for anything as a disruption needs to have a back up plan.
Kim Jong-Un was raised in a Swiss boarding school, i.e. in Switzerland, outside of Korea.
And the USA never made their peace with Korea, and the first war which the USA did not win, ended in only an armistice, but not a peace treaty And there are still tens of thousands of US troops in Korea, armed to the teeth. Is it a wonder that at least some Koreans feel threatened?
It would be so sad to disrupt the lives and livihoods of those that work for General Motors in Korea as well as disrupt manufacturing for GM.
General Motors leadership apparently is on top of things and has handicapped solutions for different eventualities as is their job. Too bad North Korea does not focus it’s energies and resources on more productive and rewarding enterprizes.
HOW ABOUT MOVING IT TO THE U.S.A.
Bear in mind it’s only a “could” and it will only be a temporary move if it happens.
Why are there (2) thumbs down to Paul’s USA comment?!