General Motors India has set a target of hitting the 3-lakh mark in annual sales in 2013. The company has touched the 1-lakh mark during the Jan-November period, crossing last year’s total sales of 69,000 cars. To achieve its stated target, GM India will launch 6 vehicles – 4 passenger vehicles and 2 commercial vehicles, in the next 2 years. 5 of these 6 introductions will be from SAIC – the Chinese car major and part owner of GM India. Of the 4 passenger vehicles, 2 will be midsize cars, 1 small car and 1 SUV.
The production of the commercial vehicles will be done in GMI’s Halol plant, where the annual capacity is being hiked from 85,000 to 100,000 units. Production capacity at its Talegaon plant will also be hiked from the current level of 140,000 to 300,000 units in the next few years.
Localisation will play a key role in the market performance of the GM’s products. The company has inaugurated its engine plant at Talegaon with an installed capacity of 160,000 units per annum. This will be hiked to 300,000 in the next phase. GM India’s President and Managing Director Karl Slym says the new plant is GM’s first ‘flexi-engine’ plant which can produce both petrol and diesel engines. The engines produced at the plant will have a maximum displacement of 1.5 litres.
The powetrains that will be produced in Talegaon are being developed in General Motors’ technical centre in Bangalore. GM India has set up a 700-member team of engineers for powertrain development.