Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Aug 26, 2006
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Aug 26, 2006 |
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Marketing
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New Products & Services Web Extras - Cars GMI launches Chevrolet Optra CNG Our Bureau
Special features Claims to cut fuel bill by about 70 per cent per km. Is a bi-fuel car with standard petrol tank also for regular gasoline. Under normal driving conditions, the car will have a range of 140 to 150 km on a full tank of CNG.
Ahmedabad , Aug 25 General Motors India on Friday launched the Chevrolet Optra-CNG in Ahmedabad and select cities, offering an environment-friendly and economic vehicle, priced at Rs 7.61 lakh, that claims to reduce the fuel bill by about 70 per cent per kilometer than in similar petrol-run cars.
New arrival
Launching the new offering, Mr Rajeev Chaba, President and Managing Director of GM India, told a news conference here that the Optra-CNG is a bi-fuel car with a standard petrol tank as well to accommodate regular gasoline. Under normal driving conditions, the new car would have a range of 140 to 150 km on a full tank of CNG. The CNG kit offered on Optra is the latest third generation kit from Italy. GM is also offering a two-year/40,000-km standard warranty on the new model. He said, to start with, the Optra-CNG will be available in cities where CNG is available, including Delhi, Mumbai and some cities in Gujarat. All current Optra 1.6 owners also can have a CNG kit installed on their vehicles and retain their warranty coverage, he said. The new kit would cost Rs 49,000 although the existing owners could have it for a special price of Rs 24,000 at present. Earlier this year, the company had launched the Chevrolet Aveo sedan and the Tavera Neo models and its recent offering was the Chevy SRV sportsback.
Expansion
GM India is expanding its dealership network this year from 85 to 110 sales points across the country. The company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors Corporation, manufactures the Chevrolet Tavera, Aveo and SRV at its facility in Halol, near Vadodara.
Halol unit
Replying to questions about GM India's recent decision to set up another production facility in Maharashtra, Mr Chaba said the main reason was the company's plan to have the new unit closer to a good commercial port like Mumbai. Moreover, the company found that its Halol unit could not be expanded beyond its capacity to produce 85,000 vehicles per annum at present.
He denied that the company did not want to set up the new unit in Gujarat, saying it was, in fact, at the suggestion of the Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, that GM has now launched its new CNG vehicle.
"There was no question of Gujarat not agreeing with us. We did not negotiate with Gujarat either. In fact, we got all the support from the Gujarat Government," he added.
In 2005, the company sold 30,837 cars as against 26,166 in 2004, an 18 per cent growth in annual sales while overall passenger car growth last year was only about five per cent.
In Gujarat, GM sold about 270 vehicles per month at present and expected to sell 25 CNG units per month in the State.
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