Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 27 (IANS) Automobile major General Motors Thursday said that it plans to launch six new car models and 14 variants in the Indian market within two years.”The company plans to launch four passenger and two commercial vehicles with 14 variants in the next 24 months,” Karl Slym, president of General Motors India, told reporters here while unveiling the company’s first indigenously-made petrol engine.

The company is targeting to reach a sales figure of three lakh units by 2013, helped by the new models and indigenous manufacturing of petrol and diesel engine.

The new 1.2 litre petrol engine which the company says has been developed for the Indian conditions, will be used for the compact car ‘Beat’ from Feb 1. The hatchback car till now was using an imported engine from South Korea.

Slym said that the diesel variant of the engine would be available later this year. Both the engines would be manufactured from the company’s factory in Talegaon in the western state of Maharastra, in which the company invested more than $230 million.

According to the company, the new engine would help it in further localising the components for its car models, while on the other hand utilising the country’s skilled manpower to compete in the Indian auto-market.

Slym added that the company plans to add light trucks in its portfolio with its joint venture partner, SAIC Motor Corporation later this year.

Currently, the company offers eight car models under the Chevrolet brand, like the hatchback Spark, Beat and Aveo U-VA, sedans like Optra, Cruze and Aveo sedans, sport-utility vehicle (SUV) Captiva and the multi-purpose vehicle Tavera.