The Chevrolet Trax Crossover is on display at a showroom of General Motors in South Korea. GM Korea saw its 2023 sales almost double from a year before. Photo courtesy of GM Korea
General Motors Korea said its 2023 sales were almost double the previous year thanks to the popularity of its utility vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Trailblazer and Trax Crossover.
The company’s performance internationally translated to 429,304 units exported last year, up 88.5% from the year before, the automaker said Wednesday. Advertisement
Trailblazers accounted for 213,169 units, a 37.2% increase from 2022, while Trax Crossover exports made up 216,135 units, compared to 139 in 2022.
Locally, the U.S. automaker’s Korean affiliate sold 38,755 vehicles, an increase of 4.1% from the year before.
GM Korea’s performance is in stark contrast to its struggle in the 2010s, when its operating losses amounted to billions.
Between 2014 and 2021, GM Korea’s annual sales and exports dropped by more than half, from over 600,000 cars to less than 230,000.
The company turned things around last year, the sales figure rising to more than 260,000 and recording its first operating profit in 10 years.
“Following the introduction of new vehicles such as the Chevrolet Trax Crossover and GMC Sierra in the local market last year, we aim to maintain our positive trajectory in 2024,” GM Korea Vice President Gustavo Colossi said in a statement. Advertisement
“Our commitment to offer products with a genuine American essence and cutting-edge technology, backed by premium service, to our domestic customers remains unchanged,” he said.
Industry experts expect GM Korea to continue to do well this year.
“GM Korea will be able to further expand its outbound shipments this year because its models are highly popular in overseas markets,” Daelim University automotive Professor Kim Pil-soo told UPI News Korea.
“To speed up its growth, however, the company needs to sell more vehicles in the Korean market, where Hyundai Motor and Kia dominate,” he said.
