Report - GM Korea to surpass 10 million CKD exports by month end

GM Korea announced that it will surpass the 10 millionth CKD export by the end of this month. The Korean arm exports CKD (Completely Knocked Down) kits to 17 countries which include India, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Russia, Brazil and China.

GM Korea commenced CKD exports in the year 2002. The same year it exported 120,000 units, while the year 2005 saw this number rising to 1 million units. The 5 million mark was reached in 2010. GM Korea has three manufacturing facilities: Bupyeong (440,000 units/annum), Gunsan (260,000 units/annum) and Changwon (210,000 units/annum).

The Cruze sold in India is assembled at GM India's Talegaon facility from kits shipped by GM Korea. Recently, the Cruze was mildly updated in India by way of a tweaked front bumper and grille. The top-end variant received side airbags in addition to dual front ones. Mechanically though, the sedan retains its 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel engine which produces 166 PS and 380 Nm of torque.

The Captiva sold in India also comes from Korea, though it is brought in as a CBU (Completely Built up Unit) rather than CKD. The Captiva too was mildly updated last year with LED taillights, redesigned bumpers, new foglight enclosures and revised seat fabrics. Sales of the Captiva have slowly tapered off, as GM managed to sell a mere 23 units in the January-April 2014 period (the same period last year saw sales of 70 units). Sales of the Cruze fell by 35 percent in the Jan-April period this year compared to the previous year.