The Hindu Business Line : GM open to sub-1 litre engine for India

General Motors is open to manufacturing a 0.8-litre engine car to zoom in to the small car market in India. The company, which has been talking of a sub-one litre engine car, said that it could look at several segments within the small car to establish a robust presence for itself.

“Our existing Spark platform can produce a mini-car with a 0.8-litre engine. I am not closing the door to such a possibility for the Indian market. Particularly with the small car market expanding, a number of opportunities are being created inside one segment,” Mr Karl Slym, President, General Motors India told Business Line.

GM already sells Chevrolet Matiz with the same capacity engine in Europe. But whether it would be a new car or from the existing range, Mr Slym said, “We have the capability. So it could be a new car or similar to our existing range.”

Halol plant

When asked about a 600 or 650 cc engine car on the lines of Nano, Mr Slym said, “We can’t ignore the mini-car segment. But you need to make sure you offer what your name stands for.” The company, which would start production at its Talegaon plant by the third quarter of the year, also said that it would gearing up to more flexible production at its Halol plant.

“Currently, our plant in Halol can produce a fixed number of a particular model. As our plant at Talegaon gets operational, we would like to make it more flexible in terms of the number of units that it could produce of a certain model.”

When GM’s new plant at Talegaon commences operations, the company would have an initial capacity of 140,000 units that can be scaled up to 3 lakh units, in addition to the 85,000 units capacity at Halol.

“This would be the first time when we will have volumes to contribute to the export market,” stated Mr Slym.

GM also said that it was considering a capacity of three lakh units for its upcoming powertrain facility over the next two years to meet the domestic demand. While the company had not decided on the exact location of the plant, it was likely to be closer to their existing manufacturing units.

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