GM to Invest $7.3 Billion in Korean Unit
General Motors Co. plans to spend $7.3 billion on its South Korean unit over the next five years to improve its engineering and manufacturing capabilities.
General Motors Co. plans to spend $7.3 billion on its South Korean unit over the next five years to improve its engineering and manufacturing capabilities.
The spending will include doubling the size of the company's design center near Seoul to make it GM's third-largest such facility after those in the U.S. and Brazil. The company insists Korea will remain important to its small-car development and a key production base for the Asian market.
GM pledges to produce next-generation versions of six models in Korea, including mini, small and midsize cars and the company's first global electric vehicle.
Analysts say the commitments could help soothe GM's restive Korean workforce, which has feared the company was decreasing its reliance on operations in the country.
GM said in November that it would move production of the next-generation Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan to another region. Korean unions warned of "enormous resistance" to the plan from hourly employees. Later that month the company offered buyouts or early retirement to all 7,000 of its office workers in Korea.