General Motors plans fresh investments in India

Automotive giant General Motors will make fresh investments in India to expand its Opel product line with a few models lined up for release this year.

General Motors India vice-president (corporate affairs) P Balendran told reporters the company had so far invested Rs 672 crore (Rs 6.72 billion) in India, out of a permitted Rs 1300 crore (Rs 13 billion), and fresh infusion of capital would be made as and when new models were released.

Stating that some work was already on at the company's plant at Halol in Gujarat, he said in a couple of months another model would be introduced. Though the production capacity of the plant was 25,000 cars a year when operated in two shifts, it is currently producing only around 10,000 cars he said, adding that it could be expanded to 100,000.

From Thursday, the company would add its latest offering, the Opel Vectra to the Swing, Corsa and Astra models being sold in the country, he revealed.

Company vice-president for marketing and sales Vinay Dixit said in the premium 'D' segment of cars, the company had sold 8500 vehicles last year, of which the Corsa alone accounted for 6900.

The Corsa had registered a 22 per cent growth in volume last year as against the market growth of seven per cent.

He said the Indian automotive sector was witnessing a bullish growth and the compounded annual growth over the next few years could be around eight to nine per cent.