General Motors Korea has launched an early retirement program to restructure its upper pool of managers and higher officials.

A spokesman for the automaker told The Korea Herald that the program includes pre-payment of two year’s salary, adding that the estimated number of retirees remains unknown. The program, which started last Friday, will serve to renew the group, he said. 

The spokesman also said, “We are giving them (program candidates) an opportunity to choose. And the program will be a new chance for the younger staffers below manager position, and invigorate the company as a whole.”

The automaker denied a news report that the company, struggling with high sales costs, is seeking to further reduce costs and build up revenue by promoting early retirements.

The company said that it actually saw an increase in sales in the first quarter. From January through March, the automaker saw an 8 percent increase in sales by selling 206,173 cars, made up of 31,848 domestic sales and 174,325 export sales. Year-on-year domestic sales and export sales increased 6.5 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively.

GM Korea’s overhaul move came less than three months after its new chief executive officer took over. Sergio Rocha, former president and managing director of GM Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, joined the company as the new CEO of GM Korea Company in March.

The automaker has not had an early retirement program for three years. The last application period was in 2009, the same year it welcomed new CEO, Mike Arcamone, who resigned in January 2012. John Buttermore held the position on an interim basis for about two months, followed by Rocha’s inauguration.

Rocha has built his career in GM since 1979 and had worked in Korea for two years from 2006 as vice president of product planning and program management at the former Daewoo Auto and Technology.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)