FLEET chiefs and company car drivers have been told that it is 'business as usual' in the UK by Daewoo's corporate sales chief Graham Howes.

The announcement comes as Daewoo Motor, the parent company of Daewoo Cars, said it had entered into a 'company restructuring programme' ahead of a possible sale of the business to General Motors in partnership with Fiat after defaulting on debts of around £55 million.

Howes said: 'Daewoo in the UK is a separate company. We have plenty of stock in this country and on the way from Korea because production hasn't ceased, so it's very much business as usual for us. We are going ahead with our plans for next year and we will recover from this, just as we recovered from the recent cash flow problems for staff at Worthing.

'Ultimately, if Daewoo goes under, and we don't think it will, it will mean we will have no cars to sell. But we hope what has happened will speed up the negotiations with General Motors and Fiat, and allow Daewoo to get on with restructuring.'

The company said all warranty and service packages would be honoured and a spokeswoman added: 'Daewoo Cars is a self-sufficient subsidiary that does not rely on funds from Korea. For both the sales network and the Worthing Technical Centre it is business as usual.'