Business as usual for South African GM unit

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} The South African arm of General Motors will not be affected by its parent's bankruptcy filing, a senior official at General Motors South Africa said on Monday.   "GM South Africa is not part of this filing in the US and will not be affected by the measures announced today," said Stevan Koch, managing director and president of GM African Operations.   Koch said the local unit would continue to honour warranties, maintain service plans and keep its dealership network intact. None of GM's operations outside the United States were included in the US court filings, he added.   "Creditors of GM in the US would have no claims on GMSA as we have not guaranteed any US obligations nor are any of our assets used as security for their obligation."   GM South Africa assembles the Opel Corsa at its plant in Port Elizabeth, and Koch said that Opel continued to be in close contact, despite the deal announced at the weekend for it to be acquired by Canadian parts manufacturer Magna.   He said GMSA would continue to provide full sales and after-sales backing for "all our vehicles including honouring all warranties, service and maintenance plans, parts supply and all other areas of after-sales support for the Chevrolet, Isuzu, Opel, Hummer, Saab and Cadillac brands".   Koch also said that GMSA had to deal with the effects of the US bankruptcy filing effectively, or it would run the risk of losing the confidence of customers.   The company has started to do this with its "total confidence" campaign, under which GMSA has extended warranties to five years and provided redundancy protection to customers who might lose their jobs.   *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *