Daewoo Motors

The first authentic Daewoo Motor product, the Lanos, was introduced in late 1997. It spawned three variants: four-door, three-door, called Romeo, and a five-door, the Juliet, being the first model of a whole new family of cars to be created. Styling was by Giorgetto Giugiaro's Italdesign firm. One of its main features was the new three-parts corporate grille, reminiscent of the Daewoo Motor emblem which was to be used on many of the following Daewoo cars. In September 1997, the Nubira was launched, the first Daewoo model to be produced in their new Kunsan motor plant. It was designed by the Italian-based I.DE.A Institute. Also in late 1997, the mid-sized Leganza followed, also designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, borrowing some styling cues from the existing 1990 Jaguar Kensington concept car.

In 1998, one of Daewoo's best-known cars was introduced, the Matiz. The design was signed by Fabrizio Giugiaro and based on his 1992 "Lucciola" concept car which was initially imagined as a replacement for the Fiat Cinquecento. This car became Daewoo Motor's best-seller for the next four years. In 1999, Daewoo presented the Magnus which was a development of the existing Leganza. Sold in South Korea, alongside the Leganza, until the end of the latter's production in 2002, it existed in two variants: Classic and the sportier Eagle, the Nubira received a facelift in the same year. The Rezzo minivan was also introduced in early 2000. The Matiz got a facelift in 2001. In 2002, the Magnus L6 was introduced, equipped with Daewoo's first straight-six engine, with a new front grille and lamps. The same year, Daewoo also presented the Kalos subcompact, designed to replace the Lanos.

Acquisition and later sale of SsangYong Motor

In 1998, after the Asian financial crisis, Daewoo Motor took over the troubled four-wheel-drive specialist SsangYong Motor, only to sell it off again in 2000, because the conglomerate ran into deep financial trouble. Its models were sold under the Daewoo-SsangYong badge in South Korea, contrary to other areas where they were sold under the Daewoo brand name. SsangYong's flagship limousine, the Chairman, was integrated to the Daewoo range, becoming the Daewoo Chairman, with a new three-part Daewoo corporate grille.

Sale of Daewoo to General Motors

By 1999, the whole Daewoo Group ran into financial trouble, and was forced to sell its automotive division. Candidates for the operation included Hyundai associated with DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company and the GM-Fiat alliance. Finally, General Motors was the one who acquired Daewoo Motor's assets at $1.2 billion in 2002.

In 2002, Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company was spun off from parent Daewoo Motor Co. Ltd. In 2004, it was acquired by Tata Motors, India's largest passenger automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturing company.

When making a joint venture with the Polish company Fabryka Samochodów Ciężarowych (FSC) in 1995, Daewoo also created "Daewoo Motor Polska" which produced the Daewoo Lublin van and the Daewoo Honker pick-up truck, based on the former Tarpan Honker. Daewoo Motor Polska and the British van manufacturer LDV developed together during this period of time the Maxus van and, after Daewoo Group's bankruptcy, LDV secured the exclusive rights to the vehicle, purchased the tooling and moved it from Daewoo's plant in Poland to the LDV site in Birmingham. FSC was then sold by Daewoo's new parent company General Motors to the British investment group Intrall and the Honker's design to the Polish company Andoria-Mot.

In 1998, Daewoo Motor bought 50.2% of Avia, a Czech automotive company. The year after, the trade name of the company was changed to Daewoo-Avia. In the same year, the company became the exclusive importer and distributor of Daewoo vehicles for the Czech Republic, and started manufacturing the Polish Lublin van and the new Avia D60/90 series truck range. General Motors' buyout plan did not include Daewoo-Avia in 2001. In the year 2005, the company was overtaken by the investment group Odien Capital Partners and in October 2006, the division of light trucks moved under the concern of Ashok Leyland of India, becoming Avia Ashok Leyland Motors Company (AALM).

In 1998, the low-volume assembly of the Lanos, Nubira and the Leganza started in Taganrog, Russia, at the TagAZ-Doninvest factory The cars were sold on the local market under the Doninvest brand, as the Assol, Orion and Kondor respectively. The project did not have much success, so TagAZ turned to Citroën to produce the Berlingo, and Hyundai to produce the Accent.

Following the General Motors buyout in 2002, Daewoo lost interest in its overseas assets. The deals on supplies of pre-assembled CKD kits ended in 2005 and the facilities were forced to rely on their own production capabilities from that point on.

Marketing outside South Korea

Before the General Motors buyout, Daewoo cars were available in different countries.

In Europe, Daewoo Motor started selling the Espero and the Cielo (or Nexia) from the beginning of 1995, and achieved reasonable sales success, particularly with British buyers, where Daewoo proved popular largely due to its competitive prices and revolutionary dealership network, where cars were sold at fixed prices with a revolutionary aftersales service which included free servicing for three years. In 1996, it gained a 1% share of the new car market in Britain with some 20,000 sales.

The European Daewoo range was updated in 1997 with the launch of the Lanos, Nubira and Leganza from 1997. The Matiz city car was released in 1998, and was a great success for the company, most notably in non-Asian countries such as Italy, where it won many awards such as the Car of the Year award three times in a row, in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

The Rezzo (or Tacuma), Evanda (Magnus) and Kalos models were then released, before the SsangYong-based SUVs: Korando, Musso and Rexton. After the General Motors buyout, the Daewoo models received a new badge, and were sold under the Daewoo name until 2003. The Lacetti was the last car to bear a Daewoo badge in Europe. The other Daewoo models were later rechristened as Chevrolets.

Daewoo cars were also available in the United States and Canada between 1997 and 2002, Australia and many other countries, until Daewoo's bankruptcy. Since Daewoo's withdrawal from many markets, the Lanos was replaced with Chevrolet's as the Aveo, whereas the Nubira and Leganza were given replacements from either the Chevrolet or Suzuki brands.

In January 2005, the Chevrolet brand was introduced in Europe, the whole Daewoo range being simply re-badged as Chevrolet. General Motors' official tagline was that:

“Daewoo has grown up enough to become Chevrolet.”

It was also considered that this new name was an opportunity for Daewoo to become stronger. Unofficially, after Daewoo's bankruptcy, former chairman Kim Woo-Choong's escape and most notably the "Daewoo Affaire" in France (closure and conflagration of the Daewoo-Orion Electronics plant in Longwy, France), the Daewoo brand name had a very bad image, so that GM simply decided to extend the Chevrolet strategy that was already used in most other markets (Canada, India, Israel, Russia) since 2003 to create a real global brand, replacing the Daewoo "dual kidney" with the Chevrolet "bowtie".

The Winstorm and Tosca were presented as the Chevrolet Captiva and the Chevrolet Epica, with the Australian variants being badged as Holdens. Due to their perceived low quality in comparison to Australian built Holden models such as the Commodore, the Captiva is often referred to as a "craptiva" by the general public. Some of the former Daewoo models changed their names after the re-branding decision. Examples are the Matiz which became Chevrolet Spark in some markets (although Chevrolet Matiz was also used), or the Kalos which became the Chevrolet Aveo (alongside the Chevrolet Kalos in other countries) and Holden Barina in Australia. Later, the tendency went towards a uniformisation in the Chevrolet Europe range: the Spark and the Cruze bear the same model names throughout all European markets.

However, besides in South Korea, the Daewoo brand continued to exist in some overseas markets several years after its replacement with Chevrolet, particularly in those countries where Daewoo Motors' former facilities were not part of the General Motors take over plan. Examples of markets where it continued to be used for former Daewoo models are Romania (Daewoo Automobile Romania, until 2008), Ukraine (ZAZ, licensed production, under the Daewoo brand until 2012), Egypt (Daewoo Motor Egypt, until 2012) and, as an exception, Vietnam (Vietnam-Daewoo Motor, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of GM Daewoo, produced models under the Daewoo brand until 2011, when it was discontinued in South Korea).

Furthermore, the brand continued to exist in Uzbekistan (as Uz-DaewooAuto) until 2015, whereas in Poland the Daewoo models continued to be produced (under the Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych) until 2008.