The Hindu Business Line : GM unveils Captiva; Year-end launch for Hummer

Premium SUV: (From right) Mr Karl Slym, President, CEO, General Motors India; Mr Ankush Arora, Vice- President,Marketing & Sales (left); and Mr P. Balendran, Vice-President; at the launch of Chevrolet 'Captiva' at the 9th Auto Expoin the Capital on Wednesday. - Ramesh Sharma

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Jan. 9 General Motors is expected to launch its sports utility vehicle Hummer H3 diesel model later in the year and it will be imported from its plant in South Africa.

An official with General Motors told Business Line on the sidelines of the launch of the company’s premium sport utility vehicle, Captiva that the test drives of the car are already underway and based on feedback from some select customers as well as from the industry, the launch date as well as the pricing will be determined.

Hummer H 3 is more compact than either the H1 or H2 and is available in both automatic as well as manual transmission.

The General Motors President and Managing Director, Mr Karl Slym, later said that the company will build all its models on eight global architectures (platforms). “The model could be from South Korea or any other country,” he said. “We don’t want to sell any old models in India,” he said.

Mr Slym told newspersons that the company expects to sell about 1,000 of Captiva SUVs during 2008. Initially, Chevrolet Captiva will be imported from South Korea but there is a possibility of launching CKD (completely knocked down) units once the sales pick up, he said. He said the company expects to have a 10 per cent market share in the Indian market by 2010.

“Even though we have invested a lot of money, we are not looking at when we will break even. We want the returns in terms of market share and a better presence in the Indian auto market,” he said. The Captiva has a 2-litre four cylinder 16-valve diesel engine. The entire car has been designed by VM Motari of Italy. It has flexi five plus two seating. General Motors’ Vice-President for Marketing, Mr Ankush Arora, said the premium sports utility vehicle segment is expected to witness a three-fold increase in sales in five years to about 25,000 units.

“There is an increasing demand for vehicles which have flexible space, with sedan like drive and a car which can be used for weekend getaway,” he said.

Most of the premium SUVs are priced above Rs 18 lakh and hence General Motors decided to price the car at a competitive Rs 17.4 lakh (ex-showroom), Mr Arora said.

Mr Arora said the site for the powertrain unit is being finalised and said that the number of dealers will be increased to 125 from the current 98.

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