The parent company, General Motors, will take a final decision about the new model in the next five months. The company had initiated a market study and considering three options including a small car, mid-size car and multi-utility vehicle.

Significantly, General Motors India is also in talks with Fiat India to set up a plant for the manufacture of engines and transmission sets. "Worldwide, General Motors and Fiat have signed an agreement to float joint ventures for power train (engine and transmission), purchasing and auto financing.

We are looking at all the areas where we can have synergy, but the engine and transmission venture may be a possible alliance," he added.

The company, which has introduced two car models in the country, has set a target of 10,500 vehicles during the 2000 calender year, Swando said, adding Corsa would account for 7,000 units. It hopes to break even this year with this sales target. Meanwhile, General Motors India launched on Wednesday a stripped down version of the Opel Corsa--Corsa 1.6 GSi--sporting a price tag of Rs 6.36 lakh, pitched against the Ford 1.6 ZXi and Hyundai Accent GLS.

The launch of the variant has been been preponed in view of the market needs. The new Corsa variant will be slightly expensive (around Rs 7,000) than the Ikon ZXi.

The car boasts of luxury features like power steering, power windows, central locking, rear split seats and pollen micro dust filter among others.The car can deliver a maximum power of 92 brake horse power (bhp) and reach a speed of 60 km per hour in 4.89 seconds.

Commenting on the pricing of the new variant, Swando said, ``GMI has adopted a straddle pricing strategy to take on the competition through efficient benchmarking to increase appeal for all its variants''.

The company has put on hold its plans to launch diesel variant of its the Corsa model and dropped the automatic transmission version of Opel Astra.

General Motors India has a capacity to manufacture 12,500 units at its Halol plant on a single shift basis.

Firm ready to pick stake in Maruti if approached
New Delhi, July 26: General Motor Corporation (GMC) of the United States today evinced interest in picking up stake in India's largest car maker Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) 'if approached by the Indian Government'.

"If we are approached and offered (stake in Maruti), we are very interested in taking it,'' Richard C Swando, president and managing director of General Motors India Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of GMC, told newspersons here today.

However, he stated that the world's largest car maker is not making any pro-active efforts towards the same.

"We are closely watching India's disinvestment process... We are not trying to approach the Government but will be keen on picking up the stake if we are offered it by the Government,'' Swando added.

GMC eyed Maruti as a perfect fit into its portfolio and expected the alliance to help it grow in India. "Global consolidation and global alliance is the order of the day and we feel the best way to grow is through alliances.''

MUL was incorporated in February 1981 as a Government of India (GOI) owned company, and had entered into a license and joint venture agreement (JVA) with Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) of Japan in October 1982 to manufacture fuel efficient cars at low cost. Following the JVA, SMC increased its stake in stages to 50 per cent by 1992. MUL's equity capital of Rs 132.29 crore and its shareholding has remained unchanged since then with SMC holding 50 per cent, GOI 49.74 per cent and MUL employees mutual benefit fund 0.26 per cent.

Though disinvestment of government stake in Maruti has been in discussion for some time, the Indian government had recently stated that it may have to keep a stakeholding presence in the car maker for some time as a 'countervailing force' in the market.

Meanwhile, regarding the recent tie-up between GMC and Fiat Spa of Italy, Swando said, both the firms are currently examining the opportunities that arise in India. 'We are looking at similar opportunities with the joint steering committee.''

General Motors and Fiat had finalised a global alliance on Monday that calls for equity swaps between the two auto groups and formation of 50-50 powertrain and purchasing joint ventures.

GMC took a 20 per cent stake in Fiat Auto holdings, BV, a new holding company that controls Fiat group's auto and light-commercial vehicle operations, except for Ferrari and Maserati. Fiat received 32 million shares of GM's common stock, equal to about 5.6 per cent.

-- UNITED NEWS OF INDIA