[noopster]

Sid, this is a beautiful write-up. Very poignant and well-written. Rated 5*

I sometimes wonder how Daewoo would have fared in today's environment. Fair to say they would have given Hyundai, Maruti etc. a run for their money. The Cielo used to be *the* affordable luxury car back then. I remember they'd dropped the price to 4.2 lac and launched an executive version: was fresh out of B school and a few friends and I seriously considered buying it (they did, I waited and later got an Accent). My friend sold his Matiz when Daewoo went under despite me advising him against it: it was simply the best car to zip around town (suburban Bombay) in. He now drives Honda City Gen3, but STILL misses that beauty.
Lots of sentiment attached to Daewoo for a particular generation at least. It's great that the factory is being maintained albeit with a skeletal staff. Hope they start production soon!

[fiestarry]

It is really sad to see the abandoned state of a great manufacturer. I owned a Matiz SD for 11.5 years from March 2000 to Oct 2011.
It was a great little car and was far superior to the Santro, with which it was often compared, had far superior dynamics, braking and excellent internal space thanks to its tiny engine bay. The car was ultra smooth and gave a highway mileage of over 20 kpl. It had a tiny turning circle. Oh how I miss my car in the city traffic.
I had to sell it finally, because I had acquired another car ( u know which) and couldnt garage them both. I am sure my little Matiz will run for another 10 years with its second owner.

[Parthasarathig]

Brought tears to my eyes. I am still unable to grasp the cause for GM to stop Daewoo India's operations especially since it had state of the art production machinery.
Sad this had to happen to such a company. Still remember the glory days of Cielo. Me and my friends would just go berserk "dekh yaar cielo ja raha hai. Wow!!!". It had gained an iconic status back then.

The photos make it look like as if a disaster like Chernobyl has happened. The place so lonely with different parts just waiting to be mated together to form a car.

Why did GM not utilise the production capacities of this plant? They could have easily used the plant for the production of Spark and possibly the Optra.

I wonder what happened to the employees of Daewoo after the shutdown. What would have happened to the man who is shown in the photo inspecting the engines. Did he ever expect back in the day that he would one day be let go from his job.

[autocrat]

Originally Posted by Parthasarathig

Why did GM not utilise the production capacities of this plant? They could have easily used the plant for the production of Spark and possibly the Optra.

GM had already invested in a plant in India by then - they were selling Opel Vectra, Astra and Corsa then.

[polopm]

Truly, am amazing article !

Seeing all these pictures is really distressing, an opportunity gone down the drain...in fact it looks like the ghost of the past, I got goosebumps seeing all the parts waiting (for ever). It looks like the Titanic , splendid in the past with all the aan and shaan and now rotting away with no one to see or care.

A similar one was on the Standard Motors factory outside Chennai and it was used in a song for Kamalhassan starrer Apoorva Sagotharargal (Appu Raja for the Hindi dubbing, I guess, he had used 7-8 Standard (Rover) 2000s) on the shop floor for the song. Now the whole factory has become an IT park.

I hope some car manufacturer takes over and hopefully it does not become a residential high rise promising water-bodies, manicured lawns, terrace gardens, clubhouse along with the concrete filled Flat.

[Top gear]

Thanks for sharing bro , Quite a sad scene :( though, but i am sure in future somethign gets operational if not a car a peppie scootor

[Fullrevs]

What a fantastic thread. Tears filling up cuz of the magical moments ive had in my cielos. Ive owned a first gen cielo, the 3-speed automatic and a matiz.

Ive never rated the matiz very highly as the santro at the time always seemed to be the better car.

The cielo was however a game changer in the Indian Automobile market. Being used to seeing Ambassadors, Contessa's and the maruti 1000, the cielo was a refreshing change. First fully fitted car where one didnt have to send the car to coimbatore to fit an a/c and revamp the dashboard. The aesthetics in the cielo was great. I remember that once you got in the car, there was no evidence of what the color of the car was unless one looked at the side view mirror. The obvious place to look was the window frames and even in that area it was all cladded with upholstery or coloured rubber beading. That was a great touch. Even my BMW doesnt have that.

Engine was peppy and I remember it having a great exhaust note. Pretty decent on fuel economy too.

The automatic had some great functions like anti-roll on steep terrain which isnt even available in modern cars. For example my automatic CRV.

Makes me wonder, the factory seems ready for anyone to take over. Some auto manfacturer should look to buy it. Seems like a good facility. If peugot is really setting up here seriously, maybe they can consider it.

[dhondusaxena]

I live in Greater Noida and while I generally take the Expressway at times I do take the Surajpur road which passes right infront of the factory. Had noticed the change of the main board to "Argentum" and always wanted to go back and check on the internet but could never do so.

Anyways a really great effort and an amazing picture-logue! Pictures talk as they say and here we see what an amazing facility this must have been and the parts, machinery etc in perfect condition just waiting for someone to come up and fire them up.

Thanks a lot sidindica for this effort.

[sidindica]

This ad was circulated on all newspapers in beginning of 2001 after daewoo's bankruptcy. It was one last attempt to win customer confidence. But that never happened.

[amtak]

I once had dreams on buying Daewoo Tacuma. Alas, some dreams are never full-filled!

[hrman]

Pretty sad to see the snaps. I am amazed that the few staff who are still in the plant are still motivated enough to maintain and upkeep the premises. There is no light in the horizon of when the factory will be restarted if ever.

From what I know, the Chevrolet spark is a clone of the Matiz. What is preventing GM from using this facility to make the spark? I'm sure the changeover would not be too big. Similar for the Optra.
But they know best. 5 stars rated for a 5 star thread Sidindica. Awesome job and exemplary narration. Am sure I would have got tears in my eyes if I was physically present there. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[petroheadd]

This is such a well written and presented thread. How it feels sad looking at all those snaps. It feels like something very powerful has been tied up and locked.
Its depressing to see how such a great art of machinery is being wasted.
Even if GM could utilize it right now it would be of great help to them.

This thread feels like visiting the past .

[ACM]

The picture says it all. Like a friend of mine quotes " each part of the plant cries to meet the other and become a car!".

Sid yes that says it all. - Thank you for this.

Am a past owner of a Clielo GLX AT - A superb car that was not really not as bad a fuel guzzler as made out by the press and public at the time. Loved it and kept it for 11 years.

Indeep a missed opportunity. Any of the newer entrants could have started from here and significantly reduced their start up costs.

[sameerg001]

Thanks alot sid for wonderful thread, Very well captured and written

The pictures almost bought tears to my eyes, It is really very depressing to see this.

A opportunity missed, anyways rated 5 stars.

Cheers,
Sameer

[Swifdeep]

Nostalgic thread Sid, thanks for sharing this. Rated 5 Star.

Feeling sorry about the current state of the place that once manufactured one of the cars (Matiz) we still use. Great car!. Wonder what the promoters, stake holders, employees and other associates would have gone through, though I've experienced what the Daewoo customer has been deprived off. And its also sad that such volumes of inventory is left there to die a slow death. Wish they could put it to better use.