The brand announced at the end of August the cessation of operations at the GM OBB plant where it assembles the Chevrolet Dmax, the best-selling model in the South American country.
Ecuador's automotive industry is a little more than a month away from saying goodbye to its main player, which currently owns a 51% share of vehicles assembled by brands in the Andean country, according to figures from the Chamber of the Ecuadorian Automotive Industry ( Cinnae).
This, after the GM OBB assembly factory of General Motors (Chevrolet) stops operating at the end of next August.
However, GM already has its steps planned and where the vehicles will be imported from to complete its portfolio in Ecuador after the closure of the assembly plant, which has been active for more than 40 years.
This is taking into account that in Ecuador the brand assembles the Chevrolet D-Max, which is the best-selling model in the country, including all brands nationwide, and that only in the first half of the year it recorded 4,600 units sold, according to Juan Fernando Reinoso, Communications leader of General Motors Ecuador.
The brand's decision, which also includes the cessation of its operations in Colombia, was announced last April, and is due to the "transformation of its business" in both countries to focus on a model of national vehicle marketing companies and after-sales service, as well as to support the launch of new generation vehicles, including a world-class portfolio.
Reinoso pointed out that currently 12.5% of the models that Chevrolet has in the country are imported from China; The rest of the models come from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, the United States, Mexico and Japan, which together represent 35%; while the remaining percentage corresponds to the production of the Chevrolet D-Max truck at the plant in Quito.
He explained that the production plan at the plant will allow them to supply demand during the rest of 2024, regarding the Chevrolet D-Max truck.
While, for the rest of the portfolio, they will maintain the planned import volumes, which respond to the demand projection and adjust to market behavior.
“Evidently, from the end of production, our entire portfolio will be imported from the same sources that we mentioned previously,” Reinoso revealed.