GM To Build New Crossover At Changwon Plant In South Korea
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GM will produce a new Chevy crossover model at its Changwon Complex in South Korea.
The GM Changwon Complex, located in Korea’s Gyeongsangnam-do province, currently builds the Chevy Spark subcompact hatchback. However, production of the Spark is scheduled to end in August 2022, and that capacity will be occupied by this new crossover vehicle.
GM already produces four subcompact crossover models at the GM Bupyeong Plant in Incheon near Seoul. This includes the Chevy Trax and Buick Encore, which have been in production in their current form since 2013, as well as the newer Buick Encore GX and Chevy Trailblazer.
It’s unclear exactly whether this yet-announced crossover will be sold in North America, or be destined exclusively for other global markets. However, this new vehicle has been in the planning stage since 2018, suggesting it’s a gasoline-powered model, not an EV.
In 2018, GM announced it would invest $7 billion to construct a new paint shop at its Changwon plant to “support the production of next-generation global products.” At the time, the automaker said the paint shop was “designed to produce vehicles of different sizes such as the Chevrolet Spark mini car as well as larger vehicles including crossover utility vehicles (CUVs) in the future.” It also said that it expected to eventually make further investments to install a new press line, car body line and assembly line there in preparation for the new CUV’s launch in 2023.
The Changwon plant also built the Damas and Labo, though production ended in 2021.
GM recently announced its future growth strategy for its South Korean operations. The plan seeks to achieve profitability in the Asian country with an onslaught of high-margin products, both domestically manufactured and imported, including 10 electric vehicles by 2025. “Korea, a market of early adopters and very technology-focused people, presents many opportunities,” said GM Senior Vice President and GM International President, Steve Kiefer, in a statement. “We will introduce 10 new electric vehicles to this market by 2025, bringing EVs in every price point from entry-level vehicles to performance cars, rugged trucks, capable SUVs, crossovers, and luxury products that our customers know and love,” he added.
In addition, General Motors plans to launch the GMC brand for the first time in the South Korean market, with a lineup spearheaded by the refreshed 2022 GMC Sierra 1500.
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Come on in folks. We have anything you want. Just tell our friendly sales staff what you are looking for. Oh, a sedan? Sorry, can’t do that. Small hatch? Sorry can’t do that. A nice coupe? Oh, sorry again. So let’s start this over. Come on in folks. We have anything you want as long as it’s an SUV.
Approach this chicken/egg dynamic from the other side, and part of the reason they’ve pulled out of particular segments is because those segments are selling worse and worse each year across the U.S. marketplace. If people were pounding down the doors wanting to buy sedans, coupes and hatches, they’d be making them.
Agree… the market has spoken. Tall hatchbacks for everyone.
Bill and Charlie: I do agree with that and fully understand where the market is. But that market has been directed by what they push. In other words, you can’t sell from an empty shelf. And the manufacturers are all doing this same thing by stocking less and less sedans/cars and more and more suv/cuv’s. So the buyers really don’t have that choice anymore nor have they had much of a choice for some time. So when that person driving the Buick LaCrosse or Chevy Impala go into the GM store to buy another one (keep in mind, the majority of buyers do not stay informed like we do), how many of them walk out when there is no sedan for them to look at let alone buy? Now how many of those same buyers then talk with their neighbor who drives a Camry/Accord and they gladly tell them to go to Toyota, etc? I can hear them crowing now about how the Japanese still make cars! Do they? Sure. But you and I also understand that those brands are also moving mostly to suv/cuv’s as well. So think about those same Buick/Chevy drivers who now go into that Toyota store looking for that Camry, only to be confronted with the fact that those store probably has 10 Rav4’s to every one Camry.
At what point does this buyer just give up on sedans (forced)? Now that they are at the Toyota/Honda store, they just buckle and drive off in a new Rav4 or CRV? In time they may very well like the suv type better, but that’s not what they went out to purchase. So yes, we can look at this from the other side. However, I personally feel it’s a HUGE mistake for GM and Ford and Chrysler to just throw in the towel on any sedans. In the mean time, how much market share/sales are they losing to those Asian brands? Unfortunately, way too many.
I totally get what you’re saying, and if it were just a trend occurring on the sales side of American lots I’d probably be more inclined to agree that the current state of the market is driven more by OEMs pushing CUVs over sedans/coupes.
But to me, the stronger evidence is to look at Honda and Toyota. I could be super wrong on these numbers so please feel free to correct me, but I believe the Accord, Civic, Corolla and Camry have all declines in sales over the last eight years or so. At the same time Toyota and Honda overall sales have been steady or up. Looking at the numbers, it’s because of sharply increased sales numbers of their basic CUVs (RAV4, CR-V) as well as the compact/subcompact CUVs. Unlike the Americans (Well, GM and Ford) who slowly have weaned the sedans out of their lineups, the Japanese are leaving them there and seeing fewer people buy them — even though the Accord and Camry have top-tier reputations in the U.S.
It’s the Japanese sedans that are the canary in the coalmine for me in terms of judging the “natural” demand for sedans in the U.S. market, and even they’re slipping.
Chinamen will eat it up.
Ask Honda and Toyota how the 2018 redesign of Accord and Camry are doing after almost double-digit decline since?
Like your comment a lot! I have body injuries and I don’t see myself driving a 1300 kg car anymore! Shoulders and neck pains, etc…
Do they know that there are singles who wants a small car? Why cancel the Spark damn!
No cheap American sedans, no problem the imports will supply! Not everyone is willing to pay $5-$7k additional for a cuv/suv and buys that import. Where do you think they go when they upgrade? Not likely American!
Trucks, SUVs and CUVs were ~81% of all vehicle sales in the U.S. last year, and that percentage has only increased since 2010.
The reason there’s fewer and fewer sedans on the market is because there’s fewer “theys” you’re talking about who are interested in them.
Yawn … another suv crossover, this time for China. Hey GM ! How about you get year head outta your rear end and bring back the Chevy Astro and GMC Safari. Or are you afraid that if you build what the people want (Impala included) that is destroys your argument that people have left vans, coups, and sedans.
I wonder if they’ve decided to build the new Chevrolet Tracker (Trax replacement) there and perhaps sell in North America. I’m having a hard time figuring out what else it could be, short of perhaps more Trailblazers.
Have they indicated if the non-GX Encore is getting a replacement? It could be a platform-sharing Buick.
There’s a second generation non-GX GEM-based Encore for sale in China. I suppose it could be that. Or maybe the long discussed GMC Granite on the VSS-F platform. Hmmm….
I used to think that way too , that GM/ Ford left the sedan market to the Japanese or Asian makers . but then you drive a cross over and you have the answer. The crossover is really a tall sedan in 50% of the cases with AWD. I am a senior , but an active person in my late 60’s and its so much more comfortable in a cross over than any car , the visisbility , ride height and seating position seal the deal . All of the new cars available , Malibu , Camray , Accord/ civic , etc all are low and have a terrific slope to the rear window that its almost impossible to see out the back . The low seating position is not comfortable and they are much harder to get in and out of .
People moved to crossovers as they just are a better choice for so many people in terms of comfort and driving ease while the 2 box hatch make them so much more practical.. The big 3 could transition from cars to cross overs as they have 80% of their profits from FS trucks and SUV’s. Honda , Kia, Hyundia, Nisan ,Subaru and to a lesser degree Toyota do not have the cash cows in their lineup ( FS pickups ) so they still need the profit from Cars , that remember are sold around the world and in almost all markets outside of NA, cars are still popular.
Bill, the globe is not the US only. Yes as a country is the #2 in regards to vehicle sales. #1 is China.
Look how many sedans and hatch is China selling. More than all Trucks in US alone.
The japanese, korean, german brands sell a lot of sedans and hatchs worldwide, and again, worldwide is not the US.
So they find that there is still a 2.5 million sales per year in the US, enough to have 8 full size plants running 3 shifts.
Enough for a good business case. When finally this 2.5M dwindles away, maybe, just maybe, the US will be selling Trucks, SUV, CUV and the like.
And guess what: what can possible replace a Porsche Taycan or a 911 Turbo? They have that covered making a Cayenne and a Macan a lot more fun than a similarly priced Buick Enclave Avenir.
So while the competition has literally sales in every country, GM has shrinked to a handful. Just look at the Toyota Hilux. Their sales double that of the Tacoma and it is not sold in the US.