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After the launch of diesel version of Beat on Monday, General Motors Pvt Ltd is now planning to roll out its light commercial vehicles (LCVs) in January 2012, a senior company official said here on Tuesday.
GM would start commercial production of LCVs, with “one tonne and one-plus tonne capacities” as soon as its ongoing expansion at the Halol manufacturing plant in the Panchmahals district of Gujarat is completed by December this year.
“We plan to launch the LCVs soon after the Auto Expo,” Mr P. Balendran, Vice-President, GM India, told Business Line on the sidelines of the Beat Diesel launch here.
AutoExpo is scheduled to be held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, from January 7 to 11, 2012.
The company’s nearly $300 million (Rs 1,350 crore) expansion project at Halol is expected to be completed by December 2011. This will enhance GM India’s annual production capacity from the existing 85,000 units to 1.10 lakh units at Halol, he added.
Also, looking at market conditions, the company could expand the Talegaon (Pune) plant’s capacity up to three lakh units, Mr Balendran said.
The GM’s LCV products will be rolled out with its joint venture partner, Shanghai Automotive Industries Corporation (SAIC) of China, and displayed at Auto Expo.
GM India had, in 2009, sold 50 per cent of its Indian operations to SAIC for $500 million (Rs 2,300 crore). The 50:50 partnership aims to make LCVs and passenger cars from the SAIC’s stable. This necessitated expansion of the Halol plant’s capacity.
The GM-SAIC venture had planned to invest Rs 3,000 crore in India for manufacture vehicles for both the Indian and export markets.
The company’s latest product, Chevrolet Beat Diesel, is expected to sell about 4,500 units a month. “Although the market is sluggish at present, we hope to achieve the targets,” Mr Balendran said. Beat Diesel comes in four variants priced between Rs 4.29 lakh and Rs 5.45 lakh.
The Halol plant will manufacture LCVs apart from its current portfolio comprising Spark, Aveo Uva, Aveo, Optra, Tavera and Captiva.
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