aiming higher: Nick Reilly, GM Daewoo Auto & Technology president and CEO, at the Pupyong plant in Inchon, west of Seoul on Monday. (Reuters)

Seoul, Oct. 28 (AFP): General Motors Corp. (GM), the world’s largest automaker, opened a new car plant in South Korea today to help the US company consolidate its position in the industry.

The new entity—GM Daewoo Auto and Technology Co.—was declared open for business at a ceremony in the sprawling factory of former Daewoo Motor Co.

Calling it “the beginning of a great journey,” GM Daewoo president Nick Reilly unveiled a new corporate identity and company logo.

The ceremony was watched by representatives from four major sharehodlers—GM’s Austalian unit Holden, Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp., China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. and South Korean creditors.

GM holds 44.6 per cent in the new venture, creditors 29.9 per cent, Suzuki 14.9 per cent, and Shanghai Automotive 10 per cent.

With today’s inauguration ceremony, GM became the second foreign firm to produce cars in South Korea after Renault Samsung Motors Inc. of France.

The new GM Daewoo company plans to further open up what many had considered a closed market dominated by Hyundai Motor Co., which along with its subsidiary Kia Motors Co. still controls more than 70 per cent of the local market.

Reilly said the new company would be reborn as a competitive entity with the design and production of “high-quality, innovative and affordable vehicles.”