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| The Chevrolet Bolt EV / Courtesy of GM Korea |
By Nam Hyun-woo
With electric vehicles (EVs) taking center stage in the global automobile industry, GM Korea and Renault Samsung's future as car manufacturers here is clouded with uncertainty after they failed to win EV production orders from their respective headquarters.
During the recent Consumer Electronics Show, General Motors revealed its EV platform, Ultium, and promised that the company will introduce 30 new EVs globally over the next five years. Also, the automaker showcased a new business model BrightDrop, which includes smart logistics services, commercial EVs and electrified tools for moving goods.
Following the announcement, GM and a Canadian auto union Unifor Local 88 have reached an $800 million investment agreement to produce commercial electric delivery vans. This came just two months after GM announced a $1 billion investment plan into its plant in Oshawa.
Apart from Canada, GM is also expediting EV production in China. In August, the company said over 40 percent of new GM vehicle launches in China by 2025 will be EVs and they will all be manufactured there with almost all parts coming from local suppliers.
GM's vast investments into EV production are, however, not the case for GM Korea.
GM Korea plans to roll out six vehicles this year ― one of them is expected to be the Bolt EUV, whose anticipated unveiling will be February. Though the vehicle will be available in Korea this summer, it will only be as an import.
After ending production of the Spark EV in February 2017, GM Korea has not been assembling EVs and is yet to have an EV manufacturing plan.
During last year's collective bargaining, the GM Korea union demanded the company to persuade headquarters to allocate future vehicles (EVs) to the Korean unit, but GM Korea CEO Kaher Kazem said improvements were needed in the company's competitiveness for future products, according to minutes of their meeting in November.
The remark was interpreted as GM considering stable union relations at GM Korea as one of the priorities in deciding whether to allocate new vehicles. Last year, GM Korea's labor and management had 26 meetings over wages and collective bargaining, and its union staged partial strikes for 15 days.
Concern also abounds at Renault Samsung. The company had been producing the SM3 Z.E. electric sedan from 2013, but ended production and sales in December.
Though the Twizy is produced in Korea, it is contract manufactured by Dongshin Motech, a body supplier of the company, while debate is ongoing whether it should be categorized as a micro car or a quadricycle.
To replace the SM3 Z.E., Renault Samsung has been selling the Zoe since last summer, but this also is an import and sales remained at 192 vehicles last year.
Currently, Renault Samsung does not have an EV production plan and no new model is scheduled for launch this year, raising doubts on its future sustainability.
Last week, Renault Group announced a new strategy focusing on a margins and cash generation recovery, and named Renault Samsung as a unit that needed to move toward the high margin business.
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| The Renault Twizy / Courtesy of Renault Samsung |
