INCHON, SOUTH KOREA, March 11 (UPI) -- General Motors' joint venture GM Daewoo Motor and Technology will invest $1.5 billion to create 1,000 new jobs in South Korea, the Detroit Free Press said.
GM bought bankrupt Daewoo Motor Corp. in 2002 to expand into the booming Asian market. GM Daewoo makes small cheap cars but has plans for a new diesel engine plant and will upgrade a plant in Bupyung to build sport-utility vehicles in 2006 and luxury cars in 2007.
Daewoo is Korea's third-largest automaker after Hyundai and Kia Motors.
GM invested $400 million in Daewoo in 2003 and opened a $5.5 million design center.
"We're trying to suggest to the Korean public that you might get something unexpected from GM Daewoo," said President and Chief Executive Officer Nick Reilly. "Hyundai and Kia are very traditional, middle-of-the-road, respectable marks, maybe a bit boring."
