OREANDA-NEWS. April 02, 2008. A press conference was held to officially present the General Motors Uzbekistan joint venture. The company was set up in October 2007 in partnership between UzAvtoSanoat State-owned Company and the General Motors, reported the Official website www.investuzbekistan.uz.

GM Uzbekistan JV has been set up to manufacture and sell Chevrolet automobiles in Uzbekistan on the base of the UzDaewooAuto. According to the organizers of the press conference, this new company is given a significant role in further development of the car building industry of Uzbekistan fast global growth of the largest brand – GM-Chevrolet.

During the press conference it was stated that UzAutoSanoat JSC will have the controlling stock in the new JV, and GM Corporation's stake currently constitutes 25% plus one share with the possibility of further increase of the share in the future.

"The key element of the GM Corporation's growth strategy in the past several years has been rapid promotion of its products in the fastest developing markets of the world with the aim of achieving the leading positions in them," the Chairman and Executive Director of the GM Corporation Rick Wagoner said. "We are confident that General Motors Uzbekistan will contribute substantially to the development of the automobile industry and the overall economy of Uzbekistan. Along with this, the joint venture will assist GM in further promotion and stable growth of the Chevrolet brand in Central and Eastern Europe," he added.

The Chairman of the Board of the UzAutoSanoat Ulugbek Rozukulov, Vice President of the UzAutoSanoat JSC, the Director of the plant in Asaka Shuhrat Yusupov also took part in the briefing. Opening the conference, Rozukulov said: "For us, the fact that our joint venture is the first new member of the GM family in the year when the corporation celebrates its 100th anniversary is symbolic. We hope that the partnership with the GM will bring our industry some modern technology, and create the conditions for enhancement of the staff's qualifications, creation of new joints and diversification of the consumer choice. Moreover, the joint venture will make it possible to launch the production of highest quality products that correspond to the international standards."

The General Motors Uzbekistan JV will manufacture Chevrolet cars and SUVs that will be distributed both through internal dealership network consisting of over 60 dealer companies. The JV's plant in Asaka (Andijan region, Uzbekistan) already assembles three of the Chevrolet's models – Captiva, Epica and Tacuma. As soon as this year the product range will be expanded further by the new Chevrolet Lacetti model.

"All the benefits that had been available to UzDaewooAuto have been kept for the General Motors Uzbekistan Company," Rozukulov said. Shuhrat Yusupov added that for now the new Nexia under the Chevrolet brand would be manufactured only for the domestic market, and the exported cars will still have the Daewoo brand. He explained this decision by the need for gradual introduction of the Chevrolet brand. "Foreign partners see the technological capabilities of the Asaka plant as very high and modern. To compare, if in 2007 the plant manufactured about 170,000 automobiles, this year we plan to increase the output to the level of the plant's projected capacity – 200,000.

Gerald Johnson said the plant had a huge potential. He emphasized that at this point it was very important to integrate the latest technology and use the production capacity and the equipment that the plant already has to the maximum. "We will build up the plant's production capacity and make additional investments for this purpose," he said. "In the future we also plan to raise the production level to 250,000 automobiles yearly. The experts are currently doing all the evaluations."

It is also planned to launch the production of other models from the Chevrolet's global portfolio within the next few years. The new models will be exported to the markets of the CIS market. "We plan to expand to the model range at the Uzbek plant," Sergio Roka said. "Our plans are to integrate the whole global model range, including those that are currently being designed and developed and which no one nowhere has started manufacturing yet. Two such models are to be produced in Uzbekistan."

Roka also informed the press that as soon as this year series production of Lacettis would be set up in Uzbekistan. A major portion of these will be sold to the domestic market, and the remaining portion will be exported to certain countries of the CIS. Captiva, Epica and Tacuma can already be seen in the streets of Uzbekistan.

In Uzbekistan special attention is given to the localization of production of the component parts for the automobiles, and in 2007 it was planned to raise the localization level to 60%. According to Rozukulov for the new enterprise too the localization was one of the top priorities. All the existing Uzbek suppliers of parts will continue their work. A number of projects are planned envisaging the expansion of local production. Efforts are being given to include these producers into the global network of the GM's suppliers, which would provide them an opportunity to export their products to other countries, where the brand's automobiles are manufactured.

According to the organizers, the Asaka plant will function as a part of the General Motors' Global Manufacturing System. The system is aimed to maintain high quality, production management, the staff's commitment, and continuous improvement of all processes. One of the main criteria of high quality work is staff professionalism. In order to integrate its global standards General Motors will provide new technology, integrate modern production methods, and carry out a training of 4,700 specialists working at the JV.

Johnson said this work would have three major components. The specialists of the corporation will be assigned to the positions within the organizational structure of the enterprise and the Uzbek plant and will have the opportunity to consult local staff on spots. Besides, specialists will be sent to teach the GMGMS quality standards.

And the third element includes the training of Uzbek specialists in other countries with the opportunity to practice the learned skills on GM's plants. The first group of Uzbek specialists has already taken training in Poland. Johnson said this sort of trainings would be conducted as needed, particularly with the introduction of the new models.

"The demand for Chevrolet models is growing throughout the world," Eric Stevens said. "In particular in 2007 the sales grew by around 50% in Russia thus making this brand the most popular brand in the market. The corporation also has production bases in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Poland. One of the tasks for now is to use the global platform to increase the sales of Uzbek automobiles, which will open additional opportunities for the economy of this country.

"Russia has been importing the Nexia model for about 7 years now. It is designed based on the aggregates of Opel Kadett. The warranty period for the Daewoo cars in Russia is five years or 100,000km. In 2007 the sales of Chevrolet in Europe grew by around 32% and the company constantly plans to increase its sales around the world.

"GM sees a great potential for further growth of the automobile market in Uzbekistan, a country with a population of some 27 million. The annual economic growth of the country averaged above 7% for the past five years. In 2007 the sales of cars exceeded 70,500 units, which exceeds the previous year's sales by 7,5%.

In 2007 GM-Daewoo Uzbekistan exported the car parts for full-scale production of more than 170,000 automobiles. The presentation of the new Nexia will be held tonight. In 2005 UzDaewooAuto signed a contract with the Concept Group for the development of the new design and introduction of modifications to the production of the Nexia model. The new car has a new design of front and back bumpers, the elements of light, as well as the interior and control technology."