Swing to swing GM India''s fortunes

General Motors India Pvt Ltd (GM) hopes its new offering Swing will steer the course of the company to a positive track.

According to Mr Aditya Vij, president and managing director, GMI expects to sell 1,000 units of its new model and increase that to 2,400 units the next year. The company's Halol plant in Gujarat has a total capacity of 12,500 per annum. "We have sold around 4,000 cars till date with an average realisation of Rs 7.5 lakh per vehicle," he added.

Mr Vij expects the company to close the year with a turnover of Rs 500 crore net of excise duty. While Bangladesh and Nepal would be targeted for export sales, the company also plans to source components from Indian manufacturers and sell them to its parent in the US. This would fulfil  the MoU commitments made to the government.

Speaking about Swing the five door compact Mr Vij said "The vehicle is the result of market research to address the needs of professionals and business persons who take life as it comes  - with a core need to integrate their work with a rich and fulfilling life outside work."

Carved out of Opel Corsa platform Swing is available with two engine options (1.4L and 1.6L petrol) and is positioned in the Siena, Baleno station wagon segment but very competitively priced.

Finding the buyers settling down to vehicles like Ford Ikon, Hyundai Accent on account of the high price of 1.6L Siena and Baleno, GMI has decided to price Swing far cheaper, reasoned Rajeev Chaba, vice president (marketing). The 1.4L Swing is priced at Rs 6.41 lakh while it is Rs 6.88 lakh in the case of 1.6L variant, available in six colours. "Our target customers are the owners of hatchbacks and those upgrading to regular hatchback vehicles," Mr Chaba added.

Swing has a local content of 58 per cent and the plans are to increase it to 75 per cent by next March. GMI is also looking at introduction of newer models. Vectra model is the one that is expected to roll out next though Mr Vij is non-committal on that account.Currently GMI offers `Opel Astra and `Opel Corsa' apart from Swing.

Meanwhile GMI plans to increase its distribution network.`As on date we have 42 dealers and 25 authorised service outlets spread across the country. By the end of this year, we intend to have 45 dealers and 40 authorised service outlets in 85 locations across the country,' said Mr Vij.