The Hindu Business Line : GM hopes to sign Daewoo unit deal in 3 months

GENERAL Motors is expecting to sign a deal to buy Daewoo India's car assembly unit in the next three months which would help the company to enter the sizeable compact car segment in India, a senior company official said today.

At present, General Motor is conducting due diligence of the Daewoo plant in Surajpur, near Delhi.

``We are not interested in having the due diligence carry on for another six to nine months. On the other hand, I think may be a month is too optimistic. So it's going to be somewhere between one and three months," Mr Nick Reilly, President and CEO of GM Daewoo Auto & Technology (GM-DAT) said today.

He, however, added that the acquisition of Daewoo's assets were pending over several issues, including the examination of the company and its accounts.

General Motors had said in March that it would conduct due diligence to buy an assembly plant in India from Daewoo India, which would be used to make the small car (the Chevrolet Spark).

According to Mr Reilly, General Motors is interested in entering the small car segment in India and in case the Daewoo deal does not go through, the company would look at other avenues to enter the segment.

He, however, did not comment upon on what other avenues the company is looking at.

Meanwhile, Mr Reilly expressed optimism about the growth of the Indian passenger car market. "The Indian vehicle market has tremendous potential. We expect sales of General Motors India to double to 30,000 units this year with the launch of the new MUV," he said.

When asked whether General Motors is looking at any synergies with its alliance partners Fiat and Suzuki in India in sourcing components, particularly with Maruti Udyog setting up a diesel engine plant, Mr Reilly said that there are no plans at present for the same in India.

General Motors owns a 20 per cent stake each in Fiat and Suzuki. Suzuki in turn has a stake of 54 per cent in Maruti.

Suzuki also has an about 15 per cent stake in GM-DAT.

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