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| GM India targets 30% growth in sales |
| Mahesh Kulkarni / Chennai/ Bangalore Oct 01, 2009, 19:33 IST |
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General Motors India is looking at registering a growth of 30-40 per cent in sales to touch the 100,000 unit mark in 2010.
The company is on course to record a double-digit growth in 2009 (it follows the January to December calendar year. GM India had a growth of 9.4 per cent in 2008, to touch a sales mark of 65,702 units. It is hopeful of selling 75,000 units in 2009, a growth of close to 15 per cent over last year, said Karl Slym, president and managing director.
“Last year, we recorded close to 10 per cent growth when the auto industry in India dropped by 2 per cent and we expect to do better this year. August was our best month this year, at about 6,000 units and September will be much better. Overall, we expect to touch the 75,000 mark. In 2010, we will have much better growth because we will have two brand-new cars to boost our sales and towards the end of 2010, we will launch our first electric car in India. With that we expect 30-40 per cent growth in sales,” he said.
The company is banking on new product launches to drive the growth this year and next year. It is currently finalising the launch of its new mini car on the Spark platform. “The car is ready and has completed all tests. We will start the production on December 15 and launch it in the first week of January, coinciding with the Auto Show starting on January 6, 2010,” Slym told Business Standard.
The new mini car will be available in petrol, diesel and LPG versions. To begin, it will be launched in the petrol version, followed by diesel and LPG. Based on the Beat concept, the new mini car will compete with the Suzuki A-Star, Hyundai Getz or Suzuki Swift, he said.
On October 12, GMI is launching the Chevrolet Cruze, the 2.0 litre diesel sedan, in the Indian market. It will be priced at Rs 12-14 lakh, said P Balendran, vice president. “The major growth drivers for us this year are the three-year zero maintenance offer on Spark. The interest rates have come down and liquidity has improved in the market. We will have some special editions on all our existing models. We are working out an alternative fuel option for Chevrolet Aveo,” he said.
Till August, GM sold more than 35,000 units of the Spark, close to 10 per cent more than last year.
Balendran said GM wasconsidering the possibility of raising the prices of some models.
“Due to rise in input costs, our bottomline is under pressure. We are evaluating the input costs and review prices of Aveo, Optra and Captiva by 1-2 per cent during November after the Diwali festival season,” he added.
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