General Motors revving up India plans

Excerpts from Power Breakfast on CNBC-TV18 Watch the full show » BSE | NSE 01/01/70 Are Mutual Funds betting on ?

General Motors is on an India overdrive. A mini car, a small car and an SUV - General Motors hopes to roll these out by next year. The ailing carmaker has pinned its hopes on using India as an export hub, reports CNBC-TV18.

General Motors is losing out on its home turf but it is trying to make up for that by capturing more of the emerging Asian markets. CNBC-TV18 learns that General Motors will make India an export hub for small cars and proof of that is the launch of its small car Aveo UVA in Novemeber.

CNBC-TV18 also understands General Motors' small car will have two version, a 1.2 litre and a 1.4 litre. The Aveo UVA was supposed to be the first launch of the year for General Motors before the Chevy Aveo and SRV but General Motors postponed its launch to bring in the smaller engine to avail of the excise benefits. The Aveo UVA 1.4 litre will compete with the Suzuki Swift and Hyundai Getz. 

And General Motors' pipeline is hot. It will bring in the Chevy Spark in April 2007. The Chevy Spark will be manufactured in General Motors' Halol plant. The company is looking at upping capacity by bringing a second plant online.

It will up its existing production capacity from 60,000 units to 85,000 units. The second plant in Talegoan will be used as General Motors' export hub and will have an initial capacity of 1,40,000 units, extendable upto 3,00,000 units.

And for SUV lovers, there is good news. General Motors will launch the 2 litre CRDI high-end SUV, Captiva in 2007. General Motors hopes the new launches will keep it in top gear.