Ahmedabad: With both its facilities in India having undergone expansion, US car-maker General Motors today said it now has the annual production capacity of over 2.50 lakh units a year.
"Talegaon plant capacity is now touching 1,60,000 units, while the expanded installed capacity of plant at Halol in Gujarat is 1,10,000 units, which enables GM India to have capacity to produce over 2,50,000 cars annually," company's VP (Corporate Communication) P Balendran said.
The company has raised the capacity at Talegaon plant from 1.40 lakh to 1.60 lakh and from 85,000 to 1.10 lakh units at its Halol plant in Gujarat.
With expanded capacity, the company has proposed to roll out its new eight seater multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) 'Enjoy' from its Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp (SAIC) platform.
GM has raised its shareholding in an equal joint venture with SAIC to 91 percent, regaining complete control.
The company has invested over USD 1 billion in India till date, and intends sourcing components of equal value in the next two years from the country for overseas operations.
In a sluggish car market, the company expects sales to pick-up from the second quarter with the interest rates easing.
Around 85 percent of the vehicles sold in country are financed by banks. "We expect two percent growth in sales this year. With interest rates easing out, we hope sales to pick up in the second quarter," GM India MD Lowell Paddock said.
The company sold around 92,000 units in 2012.
"We have conducted the pre-production trial runs of our multi-purpose vehicle 'Enjoy' at Halol facility, and it would be launched by end of first quarter," Balendran said.
The company targets to sell 12,000 units in Gujarat this year against 8,500 units last year. The state contributes around 8 percent to GM India revenues. The company on Wednesday launched its new premium entry level sedan Chevrolet SAIL in Gujarat.
This segment has been growing at 41 percent rate in last three years, and has accounted for sales of around 40,000 units per month.
Last year around 4.63 lakh units of entry level sedans like Icon, Verna, D-Zire, Indigo, Vento, Etios, were sold in India, which was nearly 21 percent of the total passenger car sales (19,99,203 units) in the country last year.
PTI
