GM Korea to launch 10 new EVs by 2025

General Motors Korea will be launching 10 new electric vehicles for the South Korean market by 2025, General Motors International President Steven Kiefer said Friday. The vehicles will range from entry-level to high-performance models, he said.

Kiefer, who is also a senior vice president at GM, said competitiveness and profitability are key to sustaining business in Korea and stressed the importance of the Korean market for the global automotive company, during the GM Future Growth Virtual Press Conference at the GM Design Center in Incheon.

“Korea is a market of early adopters and very technology-focused people, which presents opportunities for GM in terms of our ICE and electric vehicles, as well as our new businesses and our software-enabled services,” he said, using an abbreviation for internal combustion engine vehicles.

On the plan to introduce 10 new EVs in the Korean market, Kiefer withheld the specific nameplates but said they would represent the spectrum of GM brands operating in Korea and would leverage GM’s global portfolio.

“It is the automaker’s global strategy to offer electric vehicles at every price, from the entry-level vehicles to performance models and to trucks and SUVs. The goal is to have an EV for everybody,” Kiefer said.

Kiefer also explained that the EVs will all be imported, and that the automaker does not plan to produce any EVs or other new vehicles here, except for the existing ones.

“It is so important that we keep our team focused on the continued success of the Chevrolet Trailblazer, and the launch of the new cross utility vehicle would be the singular focus for us here in the country,” the executive said.

The new crossover utility vehicle will be produced at the company’s new automotive manufacturing plant in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, which Kiefer visited Wednesday.

“I had the chance to drive the vehicle. It looks spectacular and drives even better. And I am sure the new vehicle will be a great success for the Korean market and for export,” he said.

The Changwon plant is expected to start producing the new crossover utility vehicle for domestic and global sales for launch in 2023.

At the media conference, GM Korea President and Chief Executive Officer Kaher Kazem also revealed that the automaker will be launching Chevrolet’s flagship Tahoe vehicle here in the first quarter of next year. The Tahoe is one of the bestselling models in the US, according to Kazem.

Within that same timeline, the Korean unit will bring in the full-size pickup truck the GMC Sierra, Kazem added.

“We expect these new models to continue to further position our imported range in the premium segments,” he said.

Roberto Rempel, the chief of GM Technical Center Korea, said the center plans to expand its EV engineering capabilities and seeks to double the number of Korean engineers in that field, from the current 500.

The technical center is GM’s second-largest engineering center and its largest outside the US. It has more than 3,000 engineers, designers and technicians, and its facilities are capable of full vehicle development, from design to final vehicle validation and production, the automaker said.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)