GM has long realised that it cannot wish away India if it plans to stay in the Asian reckoning. But while it has been a leader in China, the intensely competitive Indian market is yet to take off for GM. Pawan Chabra drills and grills GM’s MD Karl Slym for a deeper look into how the company plans to change that orientation
Slym accepts that one area where GM lags is its production capacity. But he’s clearly working on that. GM has already made investments to the tune of Rs.11.25 billion to increase its capacity at its two plants in Halol and Talegaon. GM will be expanding its Halol car facility from 85,000 units to over 1 lakh units per annum while converting it into a commercial vehicle hub. The Talegaon plant has a current capacity of 1.4 lakh vehicles on a three shift basis and the company expects to take the capacity to 3 lakh in the second phase. Sumit Sawhney, Vice-President – Sales & Marketing, GM India reveals some more figures to me, “The company has invested over $1 billion (Rs.45 billion) in the domestic market so far and the company will remain deeply committed to this market even in the coming times.”
Be that as it may, I’m more interested in one tactic Slym is trying to pull off, which could turn out to be the market maker for years to come for GM.
Does india really matter at all in front of china?
For the uninitiated, GM India has joined hands with Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation (SAIC) in February this year and will soon be bringing products from the SAIC portfolio to the Indian market. After the announcement that GM India will sign a JV agreement with SAIC (JV partner for GM in China as well) in December, the company made its plans for the LCV market very clear.
Considering the fact that SAIC is the market leader in the Chinese automobile circuit (the largest automotive market across the globe) and operates in JV with two top global brands (GM and Volkswagen), the JV is expected to make a lot of buzz in the coming times in the Indian market as well. GM China sold close to 1.83 million vehicles in 2009 alone (more than the 1.5 million units sold by the entire Indian passenger car industry for FY 2009-10), a rise of a close to 67% over 2008. It took hardly 12 years for the company to become the largest foreign carmaker in the China. In India, there is still some way to go. The company sold 41,971 vehicles in India during the period from April to September 2010, which puts it at rank 5 behind Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata and Ford in terms of absolute volumes (SIAM).
Slym elaborates on the initial plan, “We will launch close to six new products along with 15 fuel variants over the next 24 months.” GM will also mark its entry into the CV market at the 11th Auto Expo expected to take place by early 2012. It is believed that five of the products will come from the SAIC portfolio – two LCVs, two sedans & one SUV.
Slym accepts that one area where GM lags is its production capacity. But he’s clearly working on that. GM has already made investments to the tune of Rs.11.25 billion to increase its capacity at its two plants in Halol and Talegaon. GM will be expanding its Halol car facility from 85,000 units to over 1 lakh units per annum while converting it into a commercial vehicle hub. The Talegaon plant has a current capacity of 1.4 lakh vehicles on a three shift basis and the company expects to take the capacity to 3 lakh in the second phase. Sumit Sawhney, Vice-President – Sales & Marketing, GM India reveals some more figures to me, “The company has invested over $1 billion (Rs.45 billion) in the domestic market so far and the company will remain deeply committed to this market even in the coming times.”
Be that as it may, I’m more interested in one tactic Slym is trying to pull off, which could turn out to be the market maker for years to come for GM.
Does india really matter at all in front of china?
For the uninitiated, GM India has joined hands with Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation (SAIC) in February this year and will soon be bringing products from the SAIC portfolio to the Indian market. After the announcement that GM India will sign a JV agreement with SAIC (JV partner for GM in China as well) in December, the company made its plans for the LCV market very clear.
Considering the fact that SAIC is the market leader in the Chinese automobile circuit (the largest automotive market across the globe) and operates in JV with two top global brands (GM and Volkswagen), the JV is expected to make a lot of buzz in the coming times in the Indian market as well. GM China sold close to 1.83 million vehicles in 2009 alone (more than the 1.5 million units sold by the entire Indian passenger car industry for FY 2009-10), a rise of a close to 67% over 2008. It took hardly 12 years for the company to become the largest foreign carmaker in the China. In India, there is still some way to go. The company sold 41,971 vehicles in India during the period from April to September 2010, which puts it at rank 5 behind Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata and Ford in terms of absolute volumes (SIAM).
Slym elaborates on the initial plan, “We will launch close to six new products along with 15 fuel variants over the next 24 months.” GM will also mark its entry into the CV market at the 11th Auto Expo expected to take place by early 2012. It is believed that five of the products will come from the SAIC portfolio – two LCVs, two sedans & one SUV.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
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