OREANDA-NEWS. November 06, 2007. The first Chevrolet Aveo built in Poland rolled off the assembly line of the FSO (Fabryka Samochodow Osobowych). It is planned that the four-door Aveo sedan will be joined by two new hatchback variants in 2008, reported the press-centre of UkrAvto.

As production increases to approximately 60,000 next year and 100,000 in 2009, the Aveo made-in-Poland will help meet strong demand across Europe.

According to 2007 results with sales up 32 percent compared to a year ago, Chevrolet is the fastest growing volume brand in Europe with respect to increase in adding the brand value.

"The Aveo is already our European best-seller with over 79,000 registrations so far this year", said Wayne Brannon, executive director of Chevrolet Europe. "We are proud now to build Chevrolet vehicles in Europe for European customers."

Production of the Aveo in Poland will increase Chevrolet's global build capacity and, in line with General Motors' philosophy of building cars close to where they are sold, make it possible to satisfy regional demand and shorten delivery times. "Start of Chevrolet Aveo production, - Janusz Wozniak, Chairman of the Board of FSO, commented - is a real challenge for our company, as this brand is well-known all over the world thanks to its high quality standards. But we are absolutely confident in our abilities to meet these standards, since more than 50 years FSO is famed for its highly skilled and trusty team ".

General Motors and UkrAvto announced their intention to establish a manufacturing joint venture at the plant. Under the agreement, being finalized now, 60% of the joint venture shares will be held by UkrAVTO Corporation with 40% in the hands of General Motors' South Korean unit, GM Daewoo.

UkrAvto already manufactures and distributes Chevrolet vehicles in Ukraine, where the brand has a market share of more than 8 percent. GM and UkrAvto will work together to ensure the highest standards of quality within the shortest time. According to Eric Stevens, GM Europe's vice president of manufacturing, "Our strong relationship with UkrAvto to date and General Motors' own track record of producing cars in Poland gives us the confidence to take this important next step. Our experience since 1998 at the Gliwice plant in Southern Poland has been extremely positive. We are confident the workforce in Warsaw will deliver vehicles of the same world-class performance and quality."

In the starting phase, the new Chevrolet production site will secure around 1,000 working places.
Tariel Vasadze, Honourable President of UkrAVTO Corporation, noted: "Opening of the new production line is a very significant event for UkrAVTO. High responsibility undertaken by us against the plant, employees and government of Poland, has justified itself. We have fulfilled investment obligations and are ready for a new challenge. We are glad that we enter new stage in FSO development together with our long-standing partner and world leader at car market - General Motors. Thus, the history of our relationship has come to the new level of cooperation and we hope that it will represent successful continuation of our effective partnership".

Chevrolet has a long tradition of building cars in Poland. The first Chevrolet models were built in a plant in Warsaw as early as 1928 with a second plant starting production in 1937. At that time, Polish workers were trained at General Motors International A/S in Copenhagen.

Among the four-door Chevrolet models were the Master Sedan, Master De Luxe, Master Touring Sedan and Imperial Limousine.