In the face of zooming demand and a mounting backlog for its hatch-back Beat and sedan Cruze, General Motor India has ramped up its production at its two facilities, a top official said here on Sunday.
“To meet the rising demand, a second shift has been introduced in Halol and Talegaon plants. Production capacity has been enhanced from 6,000 to 12,000 units per month,” General Motors India Vice-President P Balendran told PTI here.
The Halol and Talegaon plants, together, have an annual production capacity of 2.25 lakh units. The primarily small car plant at Talegaon has an annual capacity of 1.4 lakh units while Halol can produce 85,000 units a year.
Mr. Balendran expressed confidence that backed by the expanded capacities, the car-maker would be able to meet the escalating demand from its customers. “We are confident to clear the backlog for Beat and Cruze by August,” he said.
A fast recovering Indian economy, which is projected to grow at 8.5 per cent in the current financial year, presents an attractive market for leading automobile players like GM, Tatas and Ford India. General Motors, which sold 3 lakh units under its Chevrolet brands, has a waitlist of two months for its popular model, Cruze. Another successful model, Beat, also has a two months backlog, Mr. Balendran said.
“There is a waitlist of two months for the Cruze, which is very positive. The only factor is the delivery constraints.
The Beat has also a wait-list of about two months,” Mr. Balendran said. As part of its efforts to enhance the production, the company has recently started a second shift at Halol and Talegaon facility, he said.
GM India has so far sold 6,392 units of Cruze and 22,186 units of Beat.
The US—based company sells eight models in India under the Chevrolet brand, including hatch—backs Spark and Beat, sedans Aveo and Cruze, multi—utility vehicle Tavera and sports utility vehicle Captiva.
