GM mulls second small car, India may be export hub

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Pune, Mumbai, Sep 2: General Motors is working on a second car in the mini to the small segment in addition to the existing Chevrolet Spark, Fritz Henderson, president, General Motors Corporation USA said after rolling out the first Spark from General Motors’ vehicle plant in Talegaon. Nich Reilly, president, General Motors, Asia Pacific, said all car manufacturers had three to four cars in the small car segment and GM too will be adding another car in its portfolio. But this will not necessarily be a smaller car, informed Henderson.

GM India could also export cars to the parent company. “We foresee this plant producing additional vehicles from GM portfolio,” said Reilly. With new capacities, GM could have surplus by 2010; this will enable the company to export cars from India.

India will be a hub for small car manufacturing, said Reilly. “There is no reason why it should not be so for GM,” he said. While Korea exports cars of all sizes, India could be competitive in exports of only mini or small cars.

The Talegaon plant will be the first among GM’s plants to make gasoline as well as diesel engines. Menawhile, the company has already started testing bio-diesel run engines on its Chevrolet Optra model.

It has signed a two year agreement with the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), Bhavnagar, and will provide $5 lakh for research and development for using Jatropha in its bio-diesel engines. CSMCRI will be process Jatropha and provide 12 lakh litre of biodiesel to GM.

Emerging markets, including India, are fast opening up to alternative fuel technology. However, Reilly said that bio-diesel is not an option GM is considering for the immediate future. “CNG/LPG makes more sense at the moment,” he said.

In this regard, GM India will not go for dealer fitted CNG/LPG kits. It will instead look at OEM fitted CNG/LPG kits, said Karl Slym, president and managing director, GM India. “Customers were not comfortable with dealer fitted kits,” Slym said, adding that this was the reason it had stopped selling the CNG variant of Optra.

Commenting on the possibility of a CNG/LPG variant of Spark, Slym said, “People go for LPG in small cars,” adding that there can be a possibility of factory fitting of CNG/LPG kits at the Talegaon plant.