Chennai, June 25 General Motors India (GMI) will start export of power-trains from its new facility at Talegaon near Pune from early 2011. It has set a target of exporting at least 20 per cent of its capacity.
GMI has earmarked $200 million to make 1.6 lakh power-trains annually. The plant will be commissioned before end-2010 and work is on to create the supplier base for the project.
GMI plans to make both petrol and diesel engines at Talegaon. India has been identified as a key production hub that can service strategic regions such as Asia-Pacific and Europe.
Mr P. Balendran, Vice-President (Corporate Affairs), told Business Line at the sidelines of the launch of Chevrolet Spark LPG here recently that this is because India has a well-developed supplier base that offers the best mix of high quality and low cost. Currently, the company has 140 suppliers in India.
The company has an installed capacity of 2.25 lakh cars a year at its plants in Halol in Gujarat and Talegaon. Last year, it sold 65,702 units, and this year it hopes to grow by about 10 per cent.
Going by this growth pattern, it may only end up using a little over half of the power-train plant’s capacity in the next two years.
The company is also looking at exports of fully built cars from 2011. This is where the next small car — codenamed M300 — will play a significant role. The Talegaon plant, which was commissioned last September, is where the ‘Spark’ is produced.
Source : Business Line