GM India recently announced that they commence the trial production of their new LCV models in a Joint Venture with the Chinese Co. SAIC, in October, soon after Diwali. The Light Commercial Vehicle’s from the SAIC and GM joint venture will hit markets during 2012’s first quarter.
These LCV’s are to be manufactured at the companies Halol plant. The company’s VP of Corporate Affairs, P Balendran, said that the expansion at their plant is going according to plan, and their LCVs are expected to roll out by the year end or during 2012’s first quarter. They are also expanding their production capacity to 100,000 models in a year from the earlier 85,000 models in a year. The strike did not impact their launch or expansion plans.
According to reports, work on the company’s new press shop has also begun, while the LCVs will begin trial production after Diwali. Currently, the Halol plant manufactures around 170 to 180 cars in two shifts every day. The GM Co. manufactures the Cruze and Aveo sedans, the Aveo-UVA hatchback and the SUV Tavera at their Halol plant.
This plant will manufacturer two LCVs selected from the portfolio of SAIC, which could include a less than one 1tonne truck. GM has made an investment of Rs.1,125 crore or $250mn for launching these LCVs. The venture between SAIC and GM will most likely produce three passenger vehicles created by the SAIC some time later.
Three models of passenger cars which were developed by SAIC have been short-listed. The Indian market for commercial vehicles is projected to sell around 1.28mn units in 2011, according to the present growth in the market. The LCV market has a growth of 25% annually, while its market size is more than 2.8 lakh units.