the 26th of June, 1991. In total, 1,445,689 were manufactured. By that time, the design was 24 years old and used mechanicals which were essentially 30 years old, with only minor improvements. Daewoo era After the end of the Cold War, the Iron Curtain, the Fall of Communism in Poland, and with the Warsaw Pact Eastern Europe in 1989, the Polish government sought to privatize FSO by establishing a partnership with an international automaker to secure its future. Despite many attempts and negotiations, this was not the case for many years. The first full-fledged venture started in 1994, when an agreement with General Motors was signed to assemble Opel Astra in Żerań. Nevertheless, the following year FSO was sold to the Korean Daewoo Motors, which was a competitor to GM at that time. The company was then renamed Daewoo-FSO. At first, Daewoo used FSO to assemble models such as Daewoo Tico, Daewoo Nexia and Daewoo Espero. In 1997, the assembly and then full-fledged production of the Daewoo Lanos commenced, followed in 1999 by the Daewoo Matiz. Other contemporary Daewoo models like the Nubira, the Leganza, the Korando, the Musso and the Chairman were also assembled. The production of the Polonez was continued, the model was modernized, and new body styles were added. Shrinking market demand led FSO to cease Polonez production in 2002. Meanwhile, in 1998, General Motors decided to build their own factory in Gliwice, and relocated the production of the Opel Astra to this facility. GM's assembly line at FSO was used for a short period to assemble the Opel Vectra for the Polish market and then shut down completely, ending the relationship with General Motors. Post-Daewoo FSO Daewoo went bankrupt in 2000 leading to an acute deterioration of FSO's position in the industry. Daewoo Motors was bought out by General Motors (and its Asian partners), but overseas manufacturing subsidiaries such as Daewoo-FSO were not part of the deal. Therefore, FSO became de facto independent again. Through lengthy negotiations, the Polish government secured FSO the rights to manufacture and sell the Lanos and the Matiz until 2007. Nevertheless, FSO did not have the means to update the models, so they quickly became less and less attractive. Additionally, Daewoo's collapse caused buyers to become wary of Daewoo cars. FSO found salvation in the Ukrainian market, where Matiz and Lanos, assembled by the local partner AvtoZAZ, became very popular. In