NEW DELHI: With its eyes all set on getting into the volume-driven small car segment, General Motors (GM) on Thursday went public with its plan to launch a mini car in India in the first half of next year.

However, the company is yet to take a final decision on the second plant that it has been talking about.

Halol facility

"The mini car will be rolled out from our Halol facility and this will get the benefit of excise duty cut for small cars announced by the government in this year's budget," GM India President and Managing Director, Rajeev Chaba, said during interaction with media persons on the occasion of the launch of the new offering in the sports car segment, Chevrolet SRV.

With a starting price of Rs. 6.97 lakh ex-showroom in Delhi, Chevrolet SRV is targeted at young professionals. Its `option pack' version with additional features carries a price tag of Rs. 7.51 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

According to Mr. Chaba, GM will also launch a CNG variant of its premium sedan, Optra, next month and plans to introduce a diesel variant by the first quarter of next year.

On the plans for a mini car, he said the company would utilise the increased capacity of the plant for the initial rollout, which is widely speculated to be the Chevrolet Spark.

"By the end of this year, we will touch an overall production capacity of 85,000 units per annum. Our current sales target for the year being 45,000-50,000 units, we will utilise the additional capacity for the small car," he added. Asked how the company plans to meet the additional capacity requirement once the mini car rolls out, he said, "We are looking for, and still deciding on the alternative capacity. But at the moment we cannot give a definite answer."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail