Daewoo Motors ( ) was a South Korean automotive company established in 1937 as "National Motors". The company changed its name several times until 1982 when it became "Daewoo Motors" following its acquisition by the Daewoo Group. After running into financial difficulties, it sold most of its assets in 2002 to General Motors at $1.2 billion, becoming a subsidiary of the American company. In 2011, the name "Daewoo" was definitively removed with the company being renamed GM Korea and the Daewoo brand replaced by the Chevrolet marque. History The company was first established as "National Motor" in 1937 in Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, Japanese Korea. The name was changed to "Saenara Motor" in November 1962. Saenara was assembling and selling the Datsun Bluebird PL310. The first automobile company in South Korea, Saenara was equipped with modern assembly facilities, and was established after the Automobile Industry Promotion Policy was announced by the South Korean government in 1962. Saenara Motor was then bought by Shinjin Industrial in 1965, which changed its name to Shinjin Motors after establishing collaborations with Toyota. After Toyota's withdrawal in 1972, Shinjin Motor started a joint venture with General Motors under the name "GM Korea", but was renamed again in 1976 to "Saehan Motors". GM Korea shortly sold their Rekord model under the GM Korea marque, together with the Chevrolet 1700, a rebadged Holden Torana. Member of the Daewoo Group After the Daewoo Group gained control in December 1982, from January 1983, the name was officially changed to "Daewoo Motor Co." Until 1996, all cars were based on models from General Motors. All Saehan models were named 'Daewoo', the Maepsy being refreshed became the Maepsy-Na. The Royale Series models were kept, Daewoo adding the Royale XQ and Royale Duke (March 1982), Royale Prince (July 1983) and Royale Salon Super (March 1986). Above the Royale range, the Daewoo Imperial flagship luxury car was added in 1989, with styling reminiscent of the contemporary Chrysler Imperial and New Yorker, but also luxury Japanese sedans. It was produced until 1993. The first Daewoo addition was the 1986 LeMans model, based on the Opel Kadett E. Its three-door versions were called the Racer and the five-door version were called Penta-5. This car had an international ambition for GM, as it was sold almost worldwide, as the Pontiac LeMans, Asüna GT and SE, or Passport Optima. This car was produced until February 1997, being one of