The Hindu Business Line : GM says $1-b sourcing target will be difficult

Mr Jonathan Browning (right), Vice-President of Global Sales, Service and Marketing, General Motors, and Mr Karl Slym, President & MD, General Motors India, at the launch of New Chevrolet Spark special edition-Muzic in the Capital on Tuesday. —

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Feb. 10 General Motors has said that it may find it challenging to meet its target of sourcing $1 billion worth of components annually from Indian vendors by 2010. This comes despite the company expressing confidence in its Indian operations with regard to sales, capacity expansion plans and new launches.

“As far as the domestic operations are concerned we have registered a growth of 9.4 per cent last year. We expect to post a better growth in India this year. But I think global sourcing is very difficult to maintain in the current scenario,” said Mr Jonathan Browning, Global Sales, Services and Market, General Motors, at the sidelines of the launch of its compact car Spark Muzic with additional features.

The new model has been priced at Rs 3.27 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The company procures $500 million worth of components from the domestic auto part makers for its overseas operations.

According to Mr Karl Slym, President of the Indian subsidiary, the company had lined up new launches in the coming months to boost sales. In addition, it also planned to start exports in 2009 from its Talegaon plant.

“We will launch the Chevrolet Cruze in the middle of the year and a mini-car by the end of the year,” Mr Slym said. The new small car is likely to be equipped with an engine capacity of 1-1.5 litre.

Last year, the company sold 65,000 units out of which Spark contributed 31,600 units. The Talegaon plant has a capacity to produce 1.40 lakh units a year and the Halol plant can produce 85,000 units. The company indicated that it would commence its second shift early next year at Talegaon after the launch of its new mini-car.