Daewoo Has Been Given The Axe... Who's next?

[Rollo]

If you go to the ex Daewoo website at http://www.gmdaewoo.co.kr you're faced with a giant Chevrolet bow-tie. If you then follow the links provided and go to http://www.chevrolet.co.kr you notice that GM has rebranded all Daewoos in Korea with their American Chevrolet names.

Geo, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer, Saturn... who's next? Vauxhall and Holden can both be chopped now can't they?

[Bob Riebe]

If you go to the ex Daewoo website at http://www.gmdaewoo.co.kr you're faced with a giant Chevrolet bow-tie. If you then follow the links provided and go to http://www.chevrolet.co.kr you notice that GM has rebranded all Daewoos in Korea with their American Chevrolet names.

Geo, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer, Saturn... who's next? Vauxhall and Holden can both be chopped now can't they?

Vauxhall, might, and that is a long shot, be vulnerable but screw with Holden and you will pee off millions of car buyers.
Daewoo is a Johnny-come-lately, Holden is a part of GM's foundation.

[Rollo]

Daewoo is a Johnny-come-lately, Holden is a part of GM's foundation.

Daewoo is a Johnny-come-lately? It's been around since 1937 and was taken over by GM in 1972.

[Bob Riebe]

Daewoo is a Johnny-come-lately? It's been around since 1937 and was taken over by GM in 1972.

To GM 1972 is like the day before yesterday.

[Mark]

They did that in the UK a long time ago, must be around 6-7 years now. I'd thought they did the same world over.

[DexDexter]

If you go to the ex Daewoo website at http://www.gmdaewoo.co.kr you're faced with a giant Chevrolet bow-tie. If you then follow the links provided and go to http://www.chevrolet.co.kr you notice that GM has rebranded all Daewoos in Korea with their American Chevrolet names.

Geo, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer, Saturn... who's next? Vauxhall and Holden can both be chopped now can't they?

I don't understand this thing with Vauxhall anyway since everybody knows they are Opels and Vauxhall is long gone. We had real Vauxhalls in this country in the 70's but not since then. Rebranding Daewoos does Chevrolet no harm either since Korean quality easily surpasses the quality of the original Chevrolets.

[Mark]

I dunno, Vauxhall is still a well known brand in the UK. I guess replacing them with Opel would be risky, people in the know, know fine well that Vauxhall and Opel are the same, but do all the 18 year olds buying Corsas know that too?

The only experience I have of Chevrolet was a hire car I had in Ireland, which was so underpowered even flat out on the motorway it couldn't manage 70mph

[inimitablestoo]

This is the trouble with Vauxhall - it may be a one-country brand but it's such a big seller here, you'd be mad to tinker with it. The Opel badge is either a complete unknown in this country, or a brand remembered for the likes of the Manta and Monza a little over 20 years ago.

Daewoo, incidentally, disappeared from the UK in 2005, but the brand did live on elsewhere - and in fact, most of the recent Chevrolet launches in Europe have still been Daewoo originals. With Fiat pulling Dodge from Europe late last year and Daihatsu gone now too, that means there are no longer any manufacturers beginning with D selling cars here. At least until the not-entirely-long-awaited return of Dacia, some time in the next 18 months.