General Motors to expand operations in India
Chennai,
Nov
20:
Leading
automobile
manufacturer
General
Motors
has
chalked
out
new
measures
to
expand
operations
in
India
by
increasing
its
production
capacity
at
Pune
and
Halol
(Baroda)
facilities.
Talking to newspersons here today, General Motors President and Managing Director Karl Slym said the capacity of Baroda facility would be expanded to 85,000 units from the present 60,000 units while Pune's capacity would be increased to 1,40,00 vehicles to meet the demand of the company's vehicle.
"The production of vehicles will commence by the last quarter of 2008," he added.
Mr Karl said his company plans to launch a new seven-seater vehicle 'Capitiva' with diesel power engine at the auto expo to be held in New Delhi in January next year.
Explaining about the new vehicle, Mr Karl said initially the new vehicle would come from Korea as completly built unit and depending upon the demand, it would be manufactured in India.
He said GM would also expand its dealership network to 100 sales points and over 110 services centre across the country.
In addtion, two new parts distribution centres have been set up in Maharashtra and Delhi to supplement the two centres in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, he added.
Mr Karl said his company expects to source components worth US Dollar one billion from India for its worldwide operations in the next two to three years.
On the export front, he said the company was already planning to export once they increase the capacity in Pune and Baroda facilities.
UNI