GM bets big on India car mart

Even as General Motors continue its bad patch in the US,  it is said to have been lining up major plans for India. The company’s investment for the India market is already close to breaking the $1billion mark.
GM is readying to go on stream with its second greenfield plant in India by September. The new plant at Talegaon in Maharashtra has been set up on an investment totaling $300 million. GM India’s second plant, fast coming up at Talegaon, , will have an initial annual production capacity of 140,000 vehicles. The auto major is expected to take a decision on the opening date of the new plant in a couple of weeks. The plant will make cars for India and will also support manufacturing plants overseas, the company has said.

Further, the company is also firming up a $200-million power train and transmission system assembly line there. As if that isn’t enough, General Motors has already pumped in $300 million in its Gujarat plant where the existing facility of 60,000 units had been increased to 85,000 units.

‘Meanwhile it has also been pointed out that General Motors and the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur have announced plans to carry out joint research in the areas of electronics, controls and software. The partners also announced that a new educational curriculum would be jointly developed leading to a post-graduate degree in these fields.

GM currently boasts of a market share rise of 30 per cent during the current year. Production of cars from plants in Gujarat, Bangalore and Maharashtra is likely to increase by 3 lakh units in the coming days.

Keeping in line with the India plants, the development of a small car from the GM is also expected soon. The company, it may be recalled, has last March hinted at a new small car soon which in most probability would be cheaper than hugely popular Chevrolet Spark.