Holden built Daewoo Veritas headed to South Korea

[douglask]

Aussie-built Holden Caprice headed to South Korea

Written by Viknesh Vijayenthiran

Friday, 05 September 2008

http://www.carcentral.com.au/200809052756/...outh-korea.html

Holden has announced today that its Caprice flagship will be exported to South Korea, where it will be sold as the new Daewoo Veritas saloon. Production will remain at Holden’s vehicle assembly plant in Elizabeth, South Australia, with the petrol V6 powering the car to be sourced from the Port Melbourne engine plant. Holden chairman and managing director, Mark Reuss, described the vehicle as a great addition to the company’s export portfolio, which also includes the Commodore sedan plus its variants as well as General Motors' 3.6-litre global V6 engine. He also said that the company is aiming to have a 50-50 split of domestic and export sales this year.

Packed with unique features and technology

The Veritas was first previewed in South Korea back at the Seoul Motor Show in 2007. It features segment-leading legroom in the South Korean market as well as luxury features including massaging rear seats, electric-adjustable headrests and a LCD screen and headset. Importantly, some of these are not offered in Australia, such as the massaging seats.

Daewoo President and CEO, Michael Grimaldi said at the Veritas launch in South Korea that the car reflected Daewoo's determination to take Korea’s large sedan segment to an entirely new level. "This luxurious rear-wheel-drive sedan offers excellent driving performance while ensuring unmatched interior comfort, spaciousness and safety," he explained. "Veritas represents the start of a new era for Daewoo, as we begin to replace our entire current product line-up with new segment-leading models between now and 2010."

Veritas will be cheaper than local Caprice

The cars will cost between 46.5 million and 57.8 million won, which is approximately $48,725 to $61,500 at current exchange rates.

In 2005, Holden exported nearly 2,000 units of the previous generation WL Statesman to South Korea, and has also sold more than 800,000 vehicles overseas since it started its export program back in 1954. The list of countries the Aussie-built cars are sold in include the United States, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, the Middle East, the UK and Canada.

Holden is yet to reveal export numbers for the new deal, but competition will be tough as roughly 70% of new cars sold in South Korea are built locally.

[GMTruckGuy74]

as well as luxury features including massaging rear seats, electric-adjustable headrests and a LCD screen and headset.

Boy, this car and it's luxury features sure would have made for a nice new Buick flagship model here in the good ol' US of A.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Well they have to do something with them since they can't sell them in the USA, after all GMDAT is under Holden's control, I just don't know if South Korea would have enough demand for a car like this, it remains to be seen.