SPARK MINICAR LAUNCHED IN S KOREA

       General Motors' South Korean unit has introduced the Spark minicar, the first step in a roll-out that will take in more than 150 countries as the auto-maker seeks a revival by focusing more on small vehicles and Asian operations.
       GM Daewoo Auto & Technology will begin selling the Spark in South Korea, under the name Matiz Creative, from September 1, the company said. It claims the car, which has a 1-litre petrol engine and four-speed automatic transmission, can travel 17 kilometres on 1 litre of fuel.
       Based in the South Korean city of Inchon, GM Daewoo has become the global centre for GM's development of mini- and small cars, as the carmaker adds more fuel-efficient vehicles to its line-up amid rising concern about oil prices and the environment. GM, the world's No-2 auto-maker, collapsed into US government ownership earlier this year amid tumbling domestic sales and plunging demand for sport-utility vehicles and trucks.
       "The Spark can trigger a sales recovery for GM and help cement GM Daewoo's role within GM," said Woori Investment and Securities analyst Sohn Myung-woo in Seoul.
       "It has a symbolic importance for both GM Daewoo and its parent."
       GM Daewoo spent 295 billion won (Bt8 billion) over 27 months developing the car. In South Korea, it will cost from 9.06 million to 10.09 million won, with three submodels. A manual transmission version may be added from early next year, depending on demand, the company said.
       GM Daewoo will start export production of the minicar late this year. Foreign sales will begin early next year, starting in Europe, where the car will wear the Chevrolet badge. It will be marketed in the US in 2011, the first minicar GM will introduce in the country, said GM Daewoo chief executive Michael Grimaldi.
       "This is an important model for both GM Daewoo and the new GM to grow in global markets," he said.
       GM is focusing on smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles in a bid to lure customers back from Toyota and Hyundai. The carmaker will introduce the Volt, an electric car with a range more than four times longer than Toyota's Prius, late next year.
       The auto-maker is also boosting its presence in Asia because the region has withstood the global recession better than the US and Europe, where car sales have been seriously hit. In China, the carmakers expects full-year sales growth of at least 20 per cent, following a 78-per-cent leap last month, Kevin Wale, president of GM's Chinese operations, said in Shanghai.
       GM Daewoo is talking to its main creditor, the Korea Development Bank, about additional loans after using up a US$2-billion (Bt68.26 billion) credit line. Its vehicle sales fell 47 per cent in the first seven months of the year to 306,073 units, the comany said earlier this month. Local sales dropped 33 per cent, while exports slumped 50 per cent.