General
Motors’ Talegaon plant near Pune in Maharashtra will begin production of
vehicles meant for exports in the second half of 2014. The company will
commence exports of left hand drive version of the Chevrolet Beat to Chile in
the first quarter of 2015.
The small,
compact city car is already being built and sold
in many markets around the world.
Arvind Saxena,
the newly appointed GM India President and Managing Director stated that the start
of Beat exports underlines GM’s commitment to India and demonstrates the
quality of the country’s growing supplier base. He further noted that the
exports will create more employment opportunities within GM India and the
supplier community while helping improve capacity utilisation at the
Talegaon Plant.
The Chevrolet
Beat is currently available with petrol and diesel engines and is an extremely
fuel-efficient hatchback and is also the company’s best-selling model. The
car was introduced in the Indian market in 2010 and has since won several
awards. At the heart of the diesel car is the Smartech diesel engine.
GM India
sells its products under the Chevrolet brand, having discontinued its Opel
brand a few years after its unsuccessful debut in India. The Chevrolet brand
was founded in 1911 in Detroit, USA. Today, Chevrolet is now one of the world's
largest car brands and is present in more than 140 countries. Chevrolet
vehicles sell more than 4.9 million units in a year. This includes cars as well as trucks.
The Chevrolet
brand was introduced in India in 2003. The Chevrolet range in the country includes
cars like Spark, Beat, Sail, Sail U-VA and Cruze. It also sells the Tavera and Enjoy
utility vehicles as well as the Captiva SUV in India.
In an Indian
market that is witnessing one of its worst investment climates, GM India too
suffered immensely on the sales front. For the year ended March 31, 2014, GM
India sold 80890 units, a drop of 8.2pc as compared to the previous year. While
its competitors like Hyundai, Maruti, Volkswagen etc have been doing well on
the exports front, GM India exports have yet to take off from India. With the
Beat exports in the first quarter of 2015, it could be the beginning of a
strong export strategy for the company.