General Motors is to reposition Daewoo, the stricken South Korean carmaker, as Chevrolet -- thereby placing it firmly in the auto budget category -- and will unveil the oriental marque under its new iconic American moniker at September's Paris Motor Show.

But GM Daewoo was in no mood to confide its strategy to the press. A spokesman was in inscrutable mode: "There are no firm plans, but who knows what we will do in half a year?"

The revamp has already raised a questionmark over existing agency relationships, not least because the brand will be run centrally from its Swiss headquarters with European director of brand marketing Patricia Messar at the steering wheel.

Two years ago the US car giant bought the bankrupt Daewoo, and last spring gave the blotted brand a corporate makeover. Since then, however, the marque has been afflicted by constant technical problems -- especially with its new Matiz model -- resulting in an embarrassing number of product recalls.

But between now and September, Daewoo is likely to remain in brand purgatory.

Data sourced from: mad.co.uk; additional content by WARC staff