SEOUL– GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., said Tuesday its sales nearly quadrupled last month from a year earlier on strong exports.

GM Korea sold 26,811 vehicles in October, up from 6,875 units a year ago despite an extended global chip shortage, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales jumped 63 percent on-year to 4,070 units last month from 2,493, while exports jumped more than five times to 22,741 from 4,382 over the cited period on increased shipments of the Trailblazer SUV, it said.

From January to October, sales rose 40 percent to 142,631 autos from 102,179 a year earlier.

In a two-track brand strategy, GM Korea sells domestically produced and imported vehicles in Asia’s fourth-biggest economy.

Its lineup is composed of four locally assembled models — the Spark mini car, the Malibu sedan, and the Trailblazer and Trax SUVs — and five imported ones — the Colorado pickup, the Bolt all-electric car, and the Equinox, Traverse and Tahoe SUVs.

Most of the models currently sold in South Korea are from the Chevrolet brand.

GM Korea plans to launch the GMC brand in the second half, with the Sierra Denali set to be released as the brand’s launch model in the Korean market.

It aims to achieve a turnaround in 2023 by producing a next-generation crossover utility vehicle model in its Changwon plant, about 300 kilometers south of Seoul, and expand production of the next-generation Trailblazer SUV in its Bupyeong plant, just west of Seoul, next year.

GM Korea plans to begin the production of the new CUV in Changwon in the first quarter. It reported net losses for eight consecutive years through 2021 and expects losses to narrow this year.

Source: Yonhap News Agency