Automotive News

General motors has made it public that they are looking at negotiations seriously with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. regarding launching the Hummer in India with full fledged availability.

GM had admitted to this in Thailand at the plant opening for production of new cars. There have also been talks of GM selling their Hummer division to the Indian company but that idea seems to be far fetched for the moment. Although there are several automakers in Russia and also China who could be interested in such a deal.

The company has been reporting its worse numbers in their corporate history and is looking to raise capital with the sale of its assets.

GM India announced last week that they have slashed the prices for their new offering in the small car market. The Chevy Spark has been priced now at Rs. 2.66 lakh for the base model.

If you consider the highest model in the car, there is a price cut of over 55,000 rupees.

“The special price is the result of improved localisation of the Spark coming out of operational efficiencies due to increase in production volume,” said Ankush Arora whos is the Vice president for Marketing India.

The Spark model from General Motors has sold over 2 million units in over 100 countries. The car also won the ‘Best Value 2008′ award for cars this year.

General Motors are planning on rolling out a new diesel version of their hit sedan, Chevrolet Optra. The diesel Optra will come with a TCDi engine - Turbo Charged Common Rail Direct Injection. The plans at the moment is to launch the car as early as next month.

This TCDi technology uses a new type of common rail technique which is a bit different from the CRDi engine. GM has been very active in rolling out new cars with them having launched 3 cars in 2006. The Aveo (sedan), SRV (sports model), and the Aveo U-va which is their small car. In 2007 they have already announced their Chevrolet Spark which is a pepped up Matiz.

The Optra diesel will cost about Rs. 10 lakhs - indicative price ex-showroom Delhi. This will definitely be atleast 20% cheaper than the diesel Skoda Octavia, which costs as much as Rs. 14+ lakhs.

General Motors India today announced that it has made a 19% (YoY, Year on Year) plus sales growth in the last month of 2006. They have issued a figure of 2,583 units sold in December 06′, versus the 2,163 figure last year.

GM claim to have sold 1,517 Chev Taveras and almost half the number of Chevrolet Aveos despite being the new kid on the block. The Optra sales were not too impressive with only 307 units sold this last month.

In 2006, GM has come out with two new models this past year which is the hit Chevrolet Aveo over the Ford Fiesta and the Chevrolet SRV which has not sold too many units but have got good reviews.

The company is optimistic about the next year with competition coming in from the likes of Mahindra and Mahindra partnering with Renault, the European carmaker. GM feel that they have got an ace up their sleeve with the new Chevrolet Aveo UVA.

The Aveo U-VA is the new hatch back and could be good competition to the likes to Hyundai Getz and the Maruti Swift.

They also have a new manufacturing unit opening up in Talegaon plus they have increased the capacity of their Halol plant to 85k units. The Talegaon plant is due to start latest by 2008.

General Motors has launched its first Hatchback in India (ofcourse we are not considering the Opel Corsa at the moment) before the Christmas season. The Aveo U-VA is a premium hatchback with a 1.2 litre petrol engine that will cost you close to 4 lakh (base model).

The Aveo U-VA is in direct competition to the Getz and the Maruti Swift which has been a revelation from MUL. The other variants of the U-VA are priced at Rs. 4.39 lakh and 4.79 lakh. The car comes with a 4 cylinder engine, along with 76 bhp power.

The new Aveo U-VA, Mr Chaba said, “We have re-engineered the car to suit Indian conditions and it carries a local content of less than 50 per cent, which we plan to take up to about 55 per cent in the coming time.”

Overall the car will come with a weaker engine compared to the Swift or the Getz, but will be more spacious and definitely will give you more for less.