The Daewoo LeMans is a compact car, first manufactured by Daewoo in South Korea between 1986 and 1994, and between 1994 and 1997 as Daewoo Cielo — a car mechanically identical to the LeMans, differentiated only by its modified styling cues. Like all Daewoos preceding it, the LeMans took its underpinnings from a European Opel design. In the case of the LeMans, the GM T platform-based Opel Kadett E was the donor vehicle, essentially just badge engineered into the form of the LeMans, and later as the Cielo after a second more thorough facelift.
In markets outside South Korea, the original version of the car bore the Asüna GT, Asüna SE, Daewoo 1.5i, Daewoo Fantasy, Daewoo Pointer, Daewoo Racer, Passport Optima and Pontiac LeMans names. The "LeMans" nameplate was not used at all for the facelifted model. Five-door hatchback models exported to Europe were badged Daewoo Nexia with the Daewoo Racer name used seemingly at random on various bodystyles. The Daewoo Heaven name has also been used.
The Cielo was subsequently replaced by the subcompact Daewoo Lanos and the compact Nubira in 1997, except in Russia where the production lasted from 1996 to 1998 and Uzbekistan where the production started in 1996 and lasted until the end of 2016. In Uzbekistan the local manufacturer UzDaewoo Motors (later GM Uzbekistan, now UzAuto Motors) produced exclusively the second generation of the LeMans and badged it as Daewoo Nexia.
First generation (LeMans; 1986)
The original series Daewoo LeMans was available as a three-door hatchback and a four-door sedan when introduced in July 1986. The LeMans was one of the first aerodynamically designed cars to be sold in South Korea, and the first to feature a digital dashboard. The hatchbacks' bodywork differed in subtle ways from the German models: unlike the original, the three-door model received swing-out rear windows (not on the lowest priced models), while the five-door design used the sedan's rear doors and sloping C-pillars rather than retaining the three-door's notched window line.
Sales of the LeMans in North America began in mid-1987, where it was sold as the Pontiac LeMans. The LeMans was also sold in Canada through General Motors' Passport International Division as the "Optima."
This car was sold in Australia as the "Daewoo 1.5i", with both hatchback and sedan bodywork.
The five-door hatchback body style was known as the Daewoo LeMans Penta5 in South Korea, while the three-door was called Daewoo Racer and only the sedan was called LeMans. Korean market cars received a 1.5-litre engine (with ) as there was a severe tax penalty for cars with larger engines. In October 1991 the LeMans received a facelift, with a reworked front and superficially changed taillights. This version was called the Asüna SE/GT in the Canadian market, where it replaced the Passport Optima. When South Korean production of the original LeMans finally came to an end in February 1997, over 1 million had been built.
Pontiac LeMans
For the 1988 model year, Pontiac began selling the LeMans as their smallest model in the United States, thereby reviving the LeMans nameplate. The captive import was offered in three-door hatchback and four-door sedan bodystyles. In Canada, GM rebranded the LeMans to market it through its short-lived Passport and Asüna brands. The Pontiac LeMans received a facelift in 1991. In North America, poor quality tarnished sales and the Pontiac LeMans and Asüna SE/GT were discontinued after the 1993 model year with no replacement. In 1994, the Asüna brand was discontinued altogether.
It was also sold in New Zealand as the Pontiac LeMans from 1989, becoming the first Pontiac badged car to be sold on the NZ market since the Canadian sourced Pontiac Laurentian of the 1960s.
Daewoo Racer
Following a complex debt deal between Czechoslovakia, Libya and South Korea, Mototechna the state car dealer imported the Daewoo Racer for 1988 and 1989 in the 1.5 saloon version.
Engines
Gallery
Second generation (Cielo; 1994)