Opel Astra Classic will be built in Serbia
At a press conference in the Serbian parliament today, Božidar Đelić, Deputy Prime Minster of Serbia, Mlađan Dinkić, Minister of the Economy and Regional Development, Predrag Bubalo, Minister of Trade and Services joined Zoran Radojević, General Manager of Grupa Zastava Vozila from Kragujevac, Serbia, and Duncan Aldred, Sales, Marketing and Aftersales Director of General Motors Central and Eastern Europe to announce a contract for the assembly of the Opel Astra Classic in Serbia. According to the contract, the Astra Classic will be assembled at the Zastava facilities in Kragujevac from CKD kits supplied by Opel. Capacity is projected to increase gradually, reaching 10.000 units a year by 2012.
This is a significant step in serving the growing market in Serbia, a country of eight million people where Opel cars are sold through a network of 11 retailers. General Motors, which sells Opel and Chevrolet cars in Serbia, increased its sales volume by 93 percent in the first six months of 2007 compared with the same period of 2006. Market share for GM increased from 6.4 percent (full year 2006) to 10.6 percent in first six months of 2007. “General Motors’ decision to build the Astra Classic in Kragujevac sends a positive signal both to our economy and to other foreign investors,” said Zoran Radojevic, Managing Director Grupa Zastava Vozila.
A team of General Motors’ manufacturing specialists has begun working with their counterparts at the Zastava assembly facility. Together, they are preparing for the necessary transfer of technology and are defining the modifications to be made to specific equipment in order to ensure that the Astra Classic will meet GM’s exacting standards of quality and reliability. Until start of production in late 2008, Zastava will import the Astra Classic as a completely built-up vehicle and act as the distributor for this car-line, working with the existing network of Opel retailers on the Serbian market.
Source: Opel
