GM Daewoo to Build Engine Plant in South Korea

SEOUL, Sept 14, 2003; Reuters reported that GM Daewoo Automotive Co, South Korea's third-largest automaker, will invest $200 million to build a diesel engine plant in South Korea as part of its expansion plans, a newspaper said on Sunday.

The company, controlled by U.S. auto company General Motors, plans to produce Euro-4 standard diesel cars in South Korea, starting in the second half of 2005 or early 2006, the Korea Economic Daily reported, citing GM Daewoo's chief executive, Nick Reilly.

The engine plant is part of GM Daewoo's expansion drive under which the company would spend a total of $1 billion over the next three years.

Reilly told reporters during a news conference in Frankfurt, GM Daewoo would discuss with Fiat & GM Powertrain, an engine-joint venture between GM and Italy's Fiat, for diesel engine technologies. The location of the new plant has not yet been decided, the report said.