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Daewoo's Kalos set for July launch

Bhupesh Bhandari

General Motors and Daewoo of South Korea have joined forces to work on a new car called Kalos, which will be launched in India in July next year.

To this effect, a team of engineers from Daewoo Motor India has left for South Korea. However, in other markets like Europe and South Korea, the car will be launched earlier in February 2002.

According to sources in Daewoo India, Kalos is being targeted at the B segment of the Indian market.

"It will be a premium compact and will be positioned alongside the Fiat Palio," the sources said.

The car will come in three variants of 1200 cc, 1400 cc and 1600 cc. Daewoo India dealers have been told about the project.

About a month ago, General Motors took over Daewoo Motor's business in South Korea and its manufacturing units in Vietnam and Egypt.

However, shares in the Indian arm are held by Daewoo Corporation. There is a likelihood of General Motors picking up a minority stake in Daewoo India.

While General Motors has promised R&D support to Daewoo India, it does not want a role in the management of the Indian firm.

Meanwhile, the company is known to have made progress with the Matiz II project -- an initiative to develop a new version of Daewoo India's Matiz.

"It was found that the design of the Matiz is very feminine. The project aims at developing a more masculine version of the car," sources said.

The model has been developed in South Korea with feedback from India. Prototypes of the new version have been developed and are being tested at the moment.

Sources added that Daewoo India intends to call the car Matiz II, though the final name will be decided after consultations with General Motors.

Packed with more features, it will be priced Rs 40,000-50,000 above the Matiz and will be launched in the Indian market by February 2002.

Sources also disclosed that the Matiz would not be withdrawn from the market after the launch of Matiz II.

Y C Kim, former chief executive of Daewoo India had announced plans to launch three new big cars -- Magnus, Nubira II and Lanos II -- during the current financial year.

However, the plans were altered after Y T Cho took over from Kim. Daewoo India is now focusing on the B segment, the fastest growing segment of the Indian car market.

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