Chevrolet sales in South Korea decreased 57 percent to 6,272 units in March 2018.
GM is in the midst of a massive restructuring in South Korea that involves shuttering at least one manufacturing facility (the GM Gunsan plant). The restructuring has brought about rumors of GM bankrupting its operations in the country or pulling out of the South Korean market entirely. The developments have resulted in a steep reduction in consumer confidence in the automaker as well as in Chevrolet, which is more closely associated with General Motors in Korea than Cadillac.
Model sales for the month were as follows:
| MODEL | MAR 2018 / MAR 2017 | MARCH 2018 | MARCH 2017 | YTD 2018 / YTD 2017 | YTD 2018 | YTD 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AVEO | -83.18% | 36 | 214 | -54.03% | 234 | 509 |
| BOLT EV | * | 5 | * | * | 34 | * |
| CAMARO | -65.38% | 18 | 52 | -63.29% | 58 | 158 |
| CAPTIVA | -43.90% | 138 | 246 | -38.10% | 377 | 609 |
| CRUZE | -73.64% | 566 | 2,147 | -45.97% | 1,287 | 2,382 |
| DAMAS | -21.27% | 285 | 362 | -17.69% | 898 | 1,091 |
| IMPALA | -64.13% | 146 | 407 | -58.40% | 478 | 1,149 |
| LABO | -19.68% | 351 | 437 | -25.04% | 901 | 1,202 |
| MALIBU | -74.86% | 909 | 3,616 | -66.07% | 3,546 | 10,451 |
| ORLANDO | -52.08% | 438 | 914 | -42.39% | 1,279 | 2,220 |
| SPARK | -42.13% | 2,518 | 4,351 | -34.56% | 8,264 | 12,629 |
| TRAX | -65.03% | 707 | 2,022 | -53.19% | 2,433 | 5,198 |
| VOLT | +1,500.00% | 160 | 10 | +345.95% | 165 | 37 |
| CHEVROLET TOTAL | -57.56% | 6,272 | 14,778 | -47.07% | 19,920 | 37,635 |
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Captiva is more than 10 years old, Orlando is past it's best, and why no Thai built Trailblazer SUV with Duramax? I think GM can only blame themselves here. Introduce Equinox ASAP. Again Opel has had the brilliant 1.0 T for a while. Get it in the small Chevys guys or soon GM will only be un the US and China.
I remember this forum about a year ago... it was all about strikes in the Korean plants, and demands for wage increases...
Factor in the very old models being assembled in Korea and one would ask why GM did not make newer generation models in Korea. And look at what happened in Europe, and in Australia... it might well be that this is a deliberate evolution to get rid of excess manufacturing capacity and too-expensive workforce.
With China being cheaper and in full growth, it might make much more sense to build cars over there and distribute them over the whole APAC region. It's true that China does not hold a quality sticker, but neither do the Korean products. In fact, the Korean products totally tarnished the Chevrolet name in Europe (save for Camaro and Corvette, of which most buyers knew they were US-made).
The Chevrolet Cavalier as made in China might be a winner to be introduced in Korea, as well as some CUV and SUV models.
The more I see GM's strategy, the more I think they are massively shedding capacity, to be best positioned to introduce car sharing / fleet services and evolve towards a service and tech company rather than a car company. With 2 manufacturing hubs in the world (China and the US) they can serve the whole world with fleet & car sharing services, while keeping commercial facilities in all relevant countries (e.g. Europe and Australia).
If this is their strategy, one knows how the Korean story will end...
As a person from the Korea, Chevys in South Korea are overpriced and lacks equipments, comparing with each models' equivalents. Cruze, for example, was more expensive than similarly equipped Hyundais, Kias, and Renault-Samsungs. Even available options are way more limited, which means popular options in Korea were only available in expensive trims. US-built Impalas and Korea-built Malibus are hampered by GM's marketing streagies, too. I think they never has confronted South Korea seriously at all since 2013, when Chevys begin being overpriced and equipped uncompetitively. Gen 2 Cruze was introduced last year when others already got Gen 2, Gen 1 Cruze since 2014MY were only available with unpopular-for-tax 1.8L and efficient-yet-overpriced 1.4L(popular compacts in Korea are equipped with 1.6L),no diesel Trax availability until 2015 while others offered popular-at-the-time diesel-equipped SUVs. Their offerings has ruined by unpopular packages and prices.
According to labours of GM Korea, they said basic wages are too low: according to them, workers with experiences of 30 years usually get less than $3000 per month. If we can trust them, their high wages are caused by extra works in night and weekends, to supplement their "low" bagic wages. I think GM could have lowered their wages by increasing bagics, cut down extras, supplement them by introducing flexible percentage based on performance. In my opinion, night shifts and weekend jobs are could be done by turning temporary workers into pernament ones specialized for such jobs.
"One month does not a trend make".
But there is clearly a bit of a public backlash against Chevrolet due to the announced plant closure. Once it is "old news" in the media I predict numbers will stabilise or bounce back.
Being an American company there may also be a geopolitical connection as Trump unilaterally announced his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without consulting the South Korean Govt. That may have been seen as Trump ("America") thumbing his ("their") nose at the S.Korean Govt and people. In principle the standing political agreement between the US and S.Korean Govt's has been one of solidarity. In this agreement they have vowed not to deal with the N.K Govt or its representatives until they halt and decommission their nuclear weapons programme. Trump has unilaterally broken this agreement by "tweeting" a meeting with "Little Rocket Man". So the falling sales of a major American product may be seen by the public as a just act and acceptable retaliation. A bit of a stretch I know, but I've been to S.Korea and they're a very nationalistic bunch and a staunch bunch of believers in the US/S Korean military alliance.
fleetman, you have a wrong reading of the political situation in Korea. Consider the massive demonstrations against Park Geun-hye (who was sentenced to 24 years in prison today) and the much smaller demonstrations carrying ROK and US flags for here. Park Geun-hye is the eldest daughter of Park Chung-hee, the second the the three dictators serving as puppets for the US domination of at least the Southern part of Korea. Park Chung-hee's dictatorship ended on 26 October 1979 by being assasinated by the boss of his secret police, the KCIA. After a short interlude, the third bloody dictator was imposed, Chun doo-hwan, who was overthrown by a popular rebellion in 1987. The USA did not come to Korea as liberator, but as conquerer, first trying to rule with the help of the Japanese colonial administration, and violently repressing the Korean independence movement. They installed Syngman Rhee as the first US-imposed dictator; Syngman Rhee was deposed by a popular rebellion in 1961.
So there is a mixed bag of US-Korean relations, the US also having devasted the country in the war of 1950-1953, the first war the USA did not win.
If there are people in South Korea who resent the planned meeting of POTUS Trump with Kim Jong Un, they are a minority, maybe even a very small minority. Look how the North Korean delegation was greeted at the Winter Olympic games in South Korea, with all the people in the stadium standing up for the mixed all-Korean team marching in, except grumpy vice-POTUS Pence and his wife.
observer, I am just paraphrasing the words of my 10 or so middle-class S Korean acquaintances. I (they) know the history - but a lot of that is also media hyperbole based on any extreme right/left views of the situation the media can dig up (to sell those papers). The reality of the middle-classes is they support (in 9 out of 10) the US/S Korean alliance. They are well aware it is imperfect, but it is better than the alternate.
The reunification of the Korean Peninsular is in fact largely supported by the S Korean population as there are families who were split up after the Korean War into south/north factions. The reunification of families in this respect is what popularises this aspect, while the politics remain divided particularly over the nuclearisation efforts of the northern dictatorship.
That still has to rank up there with one of GM's top markets. GM sold about 45 vehicles total in ALL of Europe last month. Those Europeans know quality when they see it.
Where did you get this 45 number?
In Germany alone, there were new registrations of 60 Cadillacs and 90 Chevrolets in March 2018. A total of 150, more than 3 times your 45.
See the official statistics available for free here: https://www.kba.de/DE/Statistik/Fahrzeuge/Neuzulassungen/MonatlicheNeuzulassungen/monatl_neuzulassungen_node.html