OREANDA-NEWS. March 30, 2009. GM Uzbekistan, an Uzbek-US car maker, will start to assemble two cars - Chevrolet Epica and Chevrolet Captiva at Tashkent Aircraft Production Plant named after Chkalov (TAPOiCh).

The venture will create its branch on the production capacities of TAPOiCh, where about 15,000 cars will be produced annually.

GM Uzbekistan will supply all required equipment and technologies for USD 4 million to launch production capacities.

The Uzbek car market started to assemble three Chevrolet models in Asaka in October 2007 in line with the agreement with General Motors Daewoo and Technology (GM DAT). Along with Chevrolet Epica and Chevrolet Captiva, GM Uzbekistan also produced Chevrolet Tacuma, but low demand pushed the company to stop production in 2008.

Enterprise in Asaka produced 888 Tacuma, 2,486 Epica and 1,892 Captiva, which were realized mainly in internal market.

General Motors and Uzavtoprom completed process on creation of GM Uzbekistan JV in the end of March 2008. The venture was created on the base of UzDaewooAuto and its charter capital is USD 266.7 million.

General Motors holds 25% plus one share in the venture and has option to increase its interest up to 40%. Uzavtoprom currently holds 75% shares in the venture.

GM Uzbekistan produced 195,038 cars in 2008 or up 13.5% year-on-year.