General Motors India Private Limited (GMIPL), the country's fifth largest automobile manufacturer, has revealed intentions to increase its annual motor vehicle yield to around 1.10 lakh units at its Halol based production unit in Gujarat. The American auto major has also developed a new Multi Purpose Vehicle 'Enjoy' and sedan variant of Chevy Sail U-VA dedicated at Indian consumers, which could be launched in the country by end of December 2012.
Reportedly, GMIPL's Halol manufacturing unit is installed with a production output of around 85,000 units per year. The upcoming Enjoy MPV is believed to be the latest product to be assembled at Halol, which might be a major reason behind the company's announcement of increasing its plant's annual capacity. Further, it has been revealed that General Motors and its Chinese partner - Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp. (SAIC) have jointly developed the yet-to-be launched eight seater Enjoy MPV.
Expressing his opinion on the company's latest declaration concerning Halol manufacturing facility, P. Balendran, Vice President, Corporate Communication, General Motors India, said, “Shortly, we would have 1.10 lakh units commissioned capacity annually at Halol because Enjoy is proposed to be rolled out from this plant in next couple of months. Halol capacity was short...so it is being expanded. With the inauguration of a press shop at Halol, it is now an integrated manufacturing plant.”
The American auto giant has recently launched a facelifted version of entry-level Chevrolet Spark hatch along with a brand new model - Chevy Sail U-VA hatch in the Indian passenger car market. Hence, if GMIPL introduces Enjoy MPV by end of December this year, then the company would have two new products in less than two months on domestic turf.
Regarding the company's upcoming new launches and future sales estimates for Indian auto market, Balendran said, “After launch of Chevrolet Sail U-VA a hatchback, we plan to roll out a new sedan model of Sail by next month. In Gujarat we had sold 11,500 units last year, and hope to sell 10,000 units by this year end. With new launches we expect to sell 4,000 units per month from next year, although the market is sluggish in wake of high interest rate regime.” Reportedly, GMIPL has sold some 78,100 units in the domestic market till end of October 2012, as against registered sales of 1,11,510 units in 2011.
