April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] General Motors Korea’s decision to build a separate research and development unit will strenthen its long-term ties with Korea, GM CEO Mary Barra said on Oct. 29.

GM Korea’s labor union recently sent a letter to the CEO demanding a meeting to clear up speculations around the carmaker’s commitment to Korea. It plans to separate its engineering and research divisions into a separate R&D company next month. But the union opposes the plan as they see it as GM‘s initial step to scale down its manufacturing facilities here.  

In a reply, Barra said, “A dedicated engineering services company will benefit from focused management, increased transparency on costs and improved operational efficiency that will make it more attractive for GM to allocate future engineering work to Korea.”

The demerger is an important step to allow both the engineering services company and the manufacturing unit to stand on their own as profitable and viable businesses, she said.

The CEO expressed her willingness to visit Korea “at some point soon” for meetings with the union leaders and other key stakeholders.  
 
By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)