Mumbai, General Motors India is betting big on its global mini-car that is scheduled to debut towards the end of this calendar.
Mr Karl Slym, President & Managing Director, said at a press conference here on Tuesday that this was part of the company�s efforts to focus on the Indian Mumbai, General Motors India is betting big on its global mini-car that is scheduled to debut towards the end of this calendar.
Mr Karl Slym, President & Managing Director, said at a press conference here on Tuesday that this was part of the company�s efforts to focus on the Indian compact car segment which accounts for nearly 75 per cent of sales.
Codenamed the M300, the mini-car will roll out of the company�s new plant in Talegaon near Pune. It is important from GMI�s point of view because it will be part of a full-fledged manufacturing operation which will pay particular attention to localisation. GMI will also look at exporting the M300 to parts of the Asia-Pacific region.
The Talegaon plant has a capacity of 140,000 units which could be increased to 300,000 cars. The powertrain facility in the same area has been planned for 160,000 diesel and petrol engines, but can enhance this to 300,000 units. Sources say that the big numbers planned clearly reflect the company�s intention to use India as an export hub.
Spark�s LPG version
GMI launched the LPG version of the Chevrolet Spark with a price tag of Rs 3.69 lakh (ex-showroom, Thane).
The Spark accounted for half the company�s total sales of 65,702 units in 2008. It is being manufactured at the Talegaon plant but will also be part of the assembly line at the Gujarat plant once the M300 debuts.
The LPG option would only be confined to small cars like the Spark while the bigger models from the GMI stable would use compressed natural gas as an alternative fuel
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