Sales of the Mid-size Sedan 'Malibu' Sluggish

GM Korea's No. 2 plant in Bupyeong, Incheon

GM Korea is pushing to reduce the production volume of its second plant in Bupyeong by slowing the operation speed of its production lines.

The automaker started discussion on production cuts at the Bupyeong plant after spinning off its R&D unit into an independent corporation at the beginning of the year.

Automobile industry sources said on Jan. 20 that GM Korea had begun to prune the production volume of the second plant in Bupyeong, whose utilization rate is lower than 30 percent. "The labor and management of GM Korea are in negotiations to readjust the production volume of the plant," said an official familiar with GM Korea.

It is highly likely that the labor and management agree to start cutting down on the plant’s production in February. What caused the company to push for production cuts is the poor sales performance of the mid-size sedan “Malibu.”

The second plant in Bupyeong near Seoul, which has an annual production capacity of 170,000 units, is producing only one model, the Malibu. The company sold only 17,052 units of the Malibu last year, a drop of 48.8 percent from 2017. Last November, the carmaker launched a facelift model of the Malibu to little avail. Unless the utilization rate is adjusted, the automaker’s deficit will soar.

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