CarBrandLogos archive · Daewoo · 1986
The Korean-built Opel that Pontiac sold to America, with mixed results.
Discover the storyPhoto: Chu · CC BY-SA 3.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Daewoo LeMans, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
Daewoo's route into the car business ran through General Motors, and the LeMans is the clearest example of how that worked. Underneath it is the Opel Kadett E, licensed and re-engineered for production in Korea, replacing the ageing Maepsy in Daewoo's range and giving the company a modern front-wheel-drive compact without the cost of designing one.
1993 Asüna GT, front left · Bull-Doser · Public domain
02
GM then used the car to fill a gap in its own line-up. Sold in the United States and Canada as the Pontiac LeMans, it took over from the Korean- and Japanese-sourced small Pontiacs that had preceded it. It was cheap and it was roomy, but American buyers and reviewers found assembly quality and durability well short of the Japanese imports it was priced against, and the reputational damage lingered long after the model left the market.
daewoo cielo 2 · Chu · CC BY-SA 3.0
03
Elsewhere the same car did better under its own name, sold as the Daewoo Racer, the 1.5i and eventually the Nexia, and licence-built versions kept going for decades — most notably in Romania, where production continued into the 2000s, and in Uzbekistan. Daewoo replaced it at home with the Lanos and Nubira, cars the company could call its own.
daewoo new lemans van 02 · Chu · CC BY-SA 3.0
At a glance
Produced
1986–1997Body
3/5-door hatchbackTechnical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the LeMans's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →Lineage
Contemporaries from the 1980s
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