GM to launch iconic Cadillac in India in 2 years

Riding high on the Indian success story of its Chevrolet brand, multi-national auto major General Motors is looking at launching its premium and iconic Cadillac in the country in the next two years, a top company official said.

The Indian arm of the American auto giant General Motors currently sells eight sub-brands under Chevrolet --Spark, Aveo UVA, Aveo, Optra, Tavera, Captiva, Cruze and the latest, the compact car Beat.

"Our Chevrolet brand is doing extremely well as every 8 seconds somebody buys our cars. This is a good indicator and India is a growing market with the demand for luxury cars growing... we are looking at introducing our premium brand, Cadillac over the next couple of years," GM India's president and managing director, Karl Slym, told PTI on the sidelines of the launch of the LPG version of Beat here on Friday.

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In 2010, sales of luxury cars such as Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW and Audi has grown by 70 per cent as compared to the previous year, thus indicating the rise in demand for such cars and acceptance of new brands.

Cadillac, first launched in 1902, has a presence in 39 countries globally except in markets such as South America, India, SE Asia and Australia. In India, it would be priced in the range of Rs 60-70 lakh (Rs 6-7 million).

The Detroit-based car-maker, which completes a century in 2011, produces cars and trucks in 31 countries, and sells and services these vehicles through the following divisions -- Buick, GMC, Opel, Vauxhall, and Holden, besides Chevrolet and Cadillac.

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"Cadillac is a luxury brand and people in India have a brand recall for the same. We have also done a study and have found that it will not be difficult for us to launch the iconic brand in the country," Slym added.

On the performance of Chevrolet in the Indian market, Slym said India is a strategic market for the company and the focus going ahead would be on services rather than sales.

"Around half a million Chevrolet cars run on Indian roads. Its the fifth-largest brand in India. For the parent company, India is the sixth-largest market. While we grew at 60 per cent last year, the overall industry grew at 31 per cent. We are looking at a double-digit growth this year," Slym said.

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While Spark is the highest revenue grosser for GM in India, the company is also looking at a similar growth for Beat, which was launched last year.

The new LPG version of Beat, the first from the GM stable run with locally developed state-of-the-art Smartech engine from its Talegaon unit, will be priced between Rs 4.10 lakh (Rs 410,000) and Rs 4.53-lakh (Rs 453,000) ex-showroom Mumbai.

The diesel version is expected by the second quarter of 2011.