GM India mulls to export Beat diesel to overseas markets
General Motors India has many plans laid out for the next year. Apparently, GM in synergy with SAIC of China is mulling over to develop passenger cars and the commercial vehicles specifically for the Indian car market. Apart from that, GM also envisages exporting the India bound Chevrolet Beat diesel and its engines to overseas markets supporting the RHD as India is the only manufacturing hub of GM to produce diesel engines of 1 L capacity. In order to meet the export demands, the auto major is intending to increase the diesel engine production to twice its capacity to 4.6 lakhs by 2013 with an investment of $500 million.
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The GM India president, Karl Slym had said that GM in JV with SAIC will be involved in developing 5 new products. The first half of 2012 will have the launches of the SUV, a sedan and a hatchback. The low-cost vehicles will only be introduced in the second half of 2012. According to him, the car models developed under JV will have the Chevrolet underpinning. The low-cost models are expected to be showcased in the exclusive GM dealerships in the metros, however, will have to share the sales outlets with other manufacturers in the rural parts of the country.
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Karl Slym commenting on the sales, said that the petrol car sales have declined by 15% due to the greater demand for diesel cars and the factors like high petrol prices and increased lending rates. However, the drop in the petrol car sales are compensated by the diesel cars like, Chevrolet Cruze, Chevrolet Beat diesel, Chevrolet Captiva and Chevrolet Tavera. The petrol cars offered by GM are Chevrolet Aveo, Chevrolet Aveo UVA, Chevrolet Spark, Chevrolet Beat and Chevrolet Optra. The equal partnership between GM and SAIC was formed in the year 2009. Among the other plans, GM envisages ramping up its sales by 2013 to thrice its current volume.
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