GM''s new thrust

Venkatachari Jagannathan
21 May 2004

Chennai: With the recent launch of its new car models and a few others in the pipeline General Motors India Pvt Ltd is on the road to breaking even and profitability this year. The company is targeting a turnover of Rs.1,800 crore during the year, up by Rs.1,000 crore from last year.

"We are in the process of launching new models and that will result in increased turnover and better bottom lines," says Anil Mehrotra, vice president, finance.

There has been a spate of new launches from GM India in recent times like Opel Corsa, Opel Vectra, Chevrolet Optra, Chevrolet Forester (a sports utility vehicle) and now the Chevrolet Tavera, the aggressively priced multiutility vehicle (MUV). The base level 10-seater Tavera is available for Rs5.64 lakh while the upper end 8-seater model is priced at Rs8.67 lakh and the 9-seater variant at Rs7.60 lakh (Chennai prices).

The company plans to be present in every market segment. GM will soon roll out the small car, Spark (the relaunched version of Daewoo's Matiz. As a matter of fact, the Optra is also from Daewoo's Nubira portfolio. This apart the company is also conducting a due diligence on Daewoo Motors India Limited and, as per plans, Spark will be rolled out from the company's Surajpur facility near Delhi.

Adds Mehrotra, "Our hopes on the quantum jump in the turnover is based on good reasoning. Last year, Optra was available for just six months whereas we will see the model's sales for the full year. Similarly, Tavera is available for the remaining period of this fiscal apart from other models."