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| Sergio Rocha, left in the center, GM Korea's CEO, poses with other employees during the session to share its business performance and visions in celebration of its 12th anniversary of its market entry to Korea, at its Changwon plant, Thursday. / Courtesy of GM Korea |
By Park Jin-hai
GM Korea's CEO Sergio Rocha called for employees to "work together" with management to put the company on a path to a sustainable growth, Thursday, a day before the automaker's 12th anniversary of its market entry to Korea.
"I want to express my profound appreciation for all employees' significant contribution to GM Korea's success over the past 12 years," said Rocha. "Now is the time for us to take GM Korea to the next level. I can assure that if we all work together as one team, we will prove ourselves to be competitive and drive our way to a sustainable future."
He has toured its local plants in Bupyeong, Gunsan, Boryeong and Changwon from Oct. 7 to 16 and held ten sessions to share business performances and visions with its all employees, drumming up their support for corporate competitiveness and sustainable business model as well as cementing unity from within.
Highlighting its contribution to local economy, Rocha mentioned that GM Korea since its launch in 2002 has invested more than 1 trillion won each year.
He also said it has been engaged in various corporate social responsibility activities, faithfully doing its duties as one of the largest foreign direct investment firms.
GM Korea has had its own ordeals in his twelve year history. In 2008, then GM Daewoo swung to a huge net loss in failed massive foreign exchange bets and declining exports. The company posted 2.3 trillion won losses from derivatives trading.
The company made a breakthrough in 2011, by dropping Daewoo from its name for good and launching new vehicles under the Chevrolet brand.
It has been expanding its local market share continuously ever since. The market share, which was 7.9 percent in 2009, went up to close to 10 percent last year.
GM Korea in 2013 sold 151,040 vehicles in Korea and exported more than 1.8 million complete vehicles and vehicle kits to more than 150 markets around the world.
GM Korea, based in Incheon, currently has about 17,000 employees. It operates four manufacturing facilities in Korea and represents one of only seven fully integrated design, engineering and manufacturing operations within GM.
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