The Detroit car maker General Motors Co., said that it will invest $1 billion over the next few years to turn India into a global export hub. This investment will be part of a $5 billion commitment to develop a global family of Chevrolet vehicles along with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp the state-owned Chinese auto making company.
Mary Barra, global CEO, General Motors Corporation said, “This fresh investment will see capacity expansion and new products in the next 5 years.” The capacity at their Talegaon factory in Maharashtra will be expanded from the 130,000 units to 220,000 units annually. “Talegaon is a newer, more modern factory and also located close to our research center at Bangalore,” Barra added. “It will be the hub for exports. Our aim is that 30% of its production will be exported.”
In India the plan is to produce 10 new Chevy vehicles in the next five years, beginning with the Trailblazer this October and Spin MPV in early 2017, says The Detroit News. GM hopes that the new vehicles will help Chevy double its 1.8 percent market share in India by 2020 when the country is expected to become one of the world’s three largest auto markets.
“With this investment we plan to tap India’s potential as a market and as a low-cost manufacturing base for the future,” GM’s chief of international operations, Stefan Jacoby said, adding that India will likely compensate for the slowdown in China. “Now, the cars will be designed and developed globally for emerging markets and made and sold in India. 2,000 engineers at our R&D center in Bangalore will play a significant role. The major development will happen with our R&D joint venture with SAIC, [China] but there will be a team of engineers from around the world,” said Jacoby.
