The South Korean government has no immediate plans to help the local General Motors unit, media reports said.
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GM Daewoo Auto & Technology’s sales slipped 8% to 881,959 units last year.
The company makes most of the Chevrolet-brand vehicles GM sells outside North America and sells under the Daewoo name in Korea.
“The government’s current stance is not to help individual companies and senior officials conveyed that to GM Daewoo executives,” a Ministry of Knowledge Economy official told the Yonhap news agency.
GM Daewoo president Michael Grimaldi and other senior executives visited the ministry on Wednesday to ask for assistance if overall market conditions deteriorated further, he said.
The government refrained from stepping in to help Ssangyong Motor, the smallest of the country’s five automakers, which was placed under court receivership last week.
The ministry stressed GM Daewoo should first take self-rescue measures before requesting government support, the offical told Yonhap.
In a parliamentary hearing last month, Knowledge Economy minister Lee Youn-ho said GM must pledge not to sell off or close its South Korean affiliate.
GM Daewoo dates back to 2002 when GM and partners took a majority stake in the automobile unit of the now defunct Daewoo Group, which collapsed under heavy debts in 1998.
