UzAuto Motors

UzAuto Motors
Formerly	Uz-DaewooAuto; (1992–2001); GM Uzbekistan; (2008–2019)
Company type	Joint venture
Traded as	Tashkent Stock Exchange: UZMT
ISIN	UZ7003040001
Industry	Automotive
Predecessor	GM Uzbekistan; (2008–2019)
Founded	March 2008; 16 years ago
Fate	Acquired by the Government of Uzbekistan in 2019
Headquarters	81 Humo Street, Asaka, Uzbekistan
Number of locations	2 production plants (Asaka, Pitnak) and 1 branch (Tashkent)
Key people	Bo Inge Andersson, CEO
Products	Automobiles
Production output	327 thousand vehicles (2022)
Brands	Chevrolet; Ravon
Revenue	3,265,415,000 USD (2022)
Net income	235,119,000 USD (2022)
Owner	Publicly traded company (99,7% owned by the state through Uzavtosanoat, 0,3% private equity)
Number of employees	16,000 (August, 2023)
Parent	UzAvtosanoat JSC (99.7%) through its subsidiary PVM LLC
Website	uzautomotors.com

UzAuto Motors (formerly GM Uzbekistan) is an automotive manufacturer owned by the Government of Uzbekistan.^[1] It is based in Asaka, Uzbekistan. It manufactures vehicles under the marques Chevrolet and Ravon, which is Uzbek for calm and straight road or easy journey.

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It was formerly partly owned by General Motors and, in 2019, it was acquired by the Uzbekistan Government and renamed "UzAuto Motors". By February 2023, the company completed an IPO on the Tashkent Stock Exchange.^[2]

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History

Uzbek stamps of the Daewoo Matiz and Nexia models

The company was founded in 1992 between the Uzbek state-owned UzAvtosanoat and the South Korea-based Daewoo, and was initially known as "Uz-DaewooAuto" (Uzbek: O'z-DeuAvto).^[3] The company began production of vehicles on 19 July 1996, at the new assembly plant in Asaka.^[3]

Uz-DaewooAuto produced vehicles under the brand name Uz-Daewoo.^[3] The initiative to establish the Uzbek automobile industry goes back to the early 1990s and the administration of President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov.^[4]

Following Daewoo's collapse in 2001, and resulting change of ownership, "GM Uzbekistan" was eventually established in March 2008 as a new replacement joint venture, and the Nexia and Matiz were sold under the Chevrolet badge together with an extended range of GM Korea Chevrolet models produced at the Asaka factory.

Daewoo was acquired by General Motors and became GM Daewoo. Subsequently, the facility was renamed "GM Uzbekistan" in 2008. The joint venture was owned by UzAvtosanoat JSC (75%) and General Motors (25%).^[5] GM Uzbekistan produced 106,334 units during the first half of 2011.^[6]

Given the change in name and ownership, the model range changed, although the company continued producing Uz-Daewoo branded vehicles until 2015.^[7] Some models based on these are still sold as Chevrolets.

GM Uzbekistan began production on 27 November 2008. The first assembled car on this day was a Chevrolet Lacetti which also was the 1,000,000th assembled vehicle out of the production from UzAvtosanoat. Chevrolet manufactured the Chevrolet Spark M300 in Asaka, a model for now intended only for export. The models are assembled as knock-down kits.

Thumb — "GM Uzbekistan" logo before the renaming in 2019

Following an agreement in 2008, "GM Powertrain Uzbekistan" opened an engine plant in Tashkent, 400 kilometres (248.5 mi) from GM Uzbekistan's vehicle manufacturing facility in Asaka, in November 2011. The factory is GM's first engine plant in Uzbekistan and has a production capacity of 225,000 1.2L and 1.5L Daewoo S-TEC engines per year for use in GM small passenger cars worldwide.^[8]

Another plant produced 200,000 units of front- rear- and side windows for the vehicles of the Uz-DaewooAvto and the Chevrolet Lacetti.^[9] A third production facility was opened in 2014 in Pitnak, Khorezm Region, manufacturing the Damas/Labo microvans and the Chevrolet Orlando minivan.^[10]

In 2010, about 5,000 people were employed at the GM Uzbekistan assembly plant. GM Uzbekistan sold 121,584 vehicles locally in 2011, making the country the eighth-largest market for Chevrolet and produced more than 225,000 vehicles. Its products are also exported to Russia and other CIS countries.^[11]

In 2012, the Chevrolet Malibu and the Chevrolet Cobalt were added to the production line,^[4]^[12] followed by the revised Daewoo Gentra model in 2013,^[13] the Chevrolet Orlando in 2014,^[14] and the Chevrolet Nexia T250 in 2015.^{[citation needed]}

In 2019, the Government of Uzbekistan acquired the company and renamed it "UzAuto Motors".^[15]

In 2020, UzAuto began importing the Chevrolet Equinox, Trailblazer, Traverse, and Tahoe SUVs, with intent to produce them locally if there is sufficient demand.^[16] UzAuto phased out the Ravon brand in 2020, merging it back into the Chevrolet brand as the Chevrolet Spark (R2), Nexia (R3), Cobalt (R4), and Lacetti (R5/Gentra).^[17]

In April 2021, the company announced plans to produce Chevrolet-branded vehicles for the Russian market.^[18]

In August 2021, Bo Andersson was named chief executive officer of the company.^[19]

Since 2022, the company ceased exports to Russian and Belarus markets due to international sanctions.^[20] Ukrainian exports were temporarily stopped due to logistical limitations.

In October 2022, the company announced its intention to IPO on the domestic market.^[21] In late November the company announced its pricing. Ths IPO will be one of three "People's IPOs" planned by the government in the next couple of years.^[22] In 2022, Fitch Ratings upgraded the company's rating to "BB-, Outlook Stable".^[23] The company created monopoly in the country, as a result locals do not have many choices other than buying its cars with higher price. That's also because of high custom tariffs when individuals import foreign brand cars into Uzbekistan.

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