GM claims coming of ’Sonata Killer’

By Kim Da-ye

General Motors (GM) Chevrolet’s flagship mid-size sedan Malibu will have its first global launch in Korea planned for October, the CEO of the automaker’s Korean subsidiary said Wednesday.

Designed and manufactured in Korea, the Malibu sedan is GM Korea’s ambitious work to take a big bite of the market for Korea’s most popular vehicle segment.

The new Malibu is the fully changed version of the Tosca, sporting stylish exteriors including tail lamps similar to those of the Chevy Camaro. Tosca was marketed by GM Daewoo, now GM Korea.

“The mid-size segment is the largest in Korea, and we haven’t had new models in this segment for a while. The Malibu will be launched in Korea before any other markets. The upper-medium market is another big opportunity for us,” Mike Arcamone, the CEO of GM Korea, said at the press conference held in the firm’s plant Bupyeong, Gyeonggi Province.

Arcamone stressed the importance of the Korean market, saying that one out of every four Chevrolet vehicles sold globally is now built in Korea.

GM Korea would begin exporting the Malibu at the end of this year to a flurry of countries while the United States would produce the model locally beginning early next year, a company official said.

The press conference was prepared mainly to highlight the successful launch of the Chevrolet brand in Korea. In the past six months between March and August, the automaker’s sales rose 27 percent from the same period last year.

The firm’s vice president of sales and marketing, Ankush Arora, said that 98 percent of respondents to a nationwide survey recognized the new brand while 55 percent had a favorable opinion toward it. Eleven percent of the surveyed were willing to buy Chevrolet vehicles.

“The market response to the 100-year-old Chevrolet brand in Korea has exceeded our expectations,” Aurora said. “Chevrolet’s success has coincided with the aggressive launch of six models in a short period of time and the roll out of a series of innovative aftersales programs such as 357 Chevy Care.”

Furthermore, Arcamone gave answers to the questions the market and consumers had been waiting to hear about.

On opinions that the automaker should get listed in the Seoul bourse to commit fully to the Korean market, the president said that GM Korea would not go public and remain the subsidiary of GM.

Regarding complaints from some drivers of the Orlando active life vehicle and the Cruze sedan that water leaked into their vehicles during heavy rainfall or even car wash, he offered an apology.

“I apologize for the inconvenience. We will repair all the cars for free. We will not neglect any quality issues with our vehicle,” the CEO assured.

With regard to a few complaints on transmission, Arcamone was firm about the auto part having no problem.

“I will set the record straight. Our transmission has no issue. We have excellent transmissions in our products that are sold across the world,” he said.

GM Korea had in the past provided reprogrammed transmissions to a group of drivers who wanted the setting of the auto part altered.