GM Brazil says to recall vehicles next week

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) -- The Brazilian unit of General Motors Corp. on Tuesday said it would announce a recall next week but declined to say what models or how many vehicles were involved.

Walter Wieland, president of GM Brazil, told reporters at an auto show, "This issue is very simple and very clear. We are not going to lay low. We are going to be very straight with the consumer, very honest, like we've always been."

Wieland declined to give details and would not give the reason for the recall. Officials at GM headquarters in Detroit could not immediately provide further information.

The Brazilian daily O Valour Economico reported on Monday that GM, the world's largest automaker, planned to recall close to one million Corsa vehicles in Brazil to replace a faulty front seat-belt that could come loose.

The newspaper, citing anonymous sources, said GM planned to recall 759,617 Corsa hatchbacks and 217,882 Corsa sedans produced between 1994 and September 1999. That would be the biggest auto recall in Brazil's history, the paper said.

The recall could include Corsa vehicles exported to other countries and the car's pick-up model, O Valour said.

The Corsa is GM's most popular vehicle in Brazil. The launch of the one-liter-engine car shook up the country's compact car market in 1994, fueling overwhelming demand.

Separately, GM said sales of its recently launched Celta model, a compact slightly smaller than the Corsa, tallied 6,000 vehicles in less than one month following its launch on Sept. 17.

Joseph Damour, head of sales for GM in Brazil, said an additional 1,000 of the cars had been ordered via the Internet but not yet delivered.

About 50 percent of sales of the Celta are online, he said.

"Our objective is to push Internet sales," said Damour, also at the auto show.

Wieland said the company plans to extend sales of the Celta to other countries in Mercosur, the trade bloc that groups Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, with Chile and Bolivia as associate members.

"Right now, we are only selling within Brazil. But in the future we could sell to Uruguay and right now we are thinking of Chile," Wieland told reporters.

GM is the No. 3 auto seller in Brazil.

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