GM India hopes good growth in sales in North-East amid overall fall

General Motors India is expecting "good growth" in sales in the north eastern region during the current financial year amid falling sales across the country.

"North-East continues to be a very important market for General Motors India. The region is a significant contributor to GM India's overall sales. We are expecting good growth in the north eastern region in 2014-15 as the market has started showing some improvements now," General Motors India Vice-President P Balendran told PTI.

The performance of North-East will be in the backdrop of continuing sluggishness and volatility in Indian automobile market and so the company expects to perform in tandem with the industry, he added.

The North-East contributed about 33% of the total sales in the eastern region, which accounted for 13% of overall India sales, Balendran said.

He added that Assam continues to be a strong market and contributes the highest in terms of sales with around 68% of total North-East sales.

In 2013, GM India sold 86,829 units in the domestic market as compared to 92,435 vehicles in the previous year.

The company reported 36.58% decline in August sales this year at 4,232 units as against 6,673 units sold in the same month last year.

On the performance of different models, Balendran said the petrol variants of Chevrolet Beat as well as SAIL hatchback and sedan options continue to be the favourites of customers in North-East.

Talking about the company's sales strategy, he said: "We continue to tap the market in this region with innovative marketing schemes, customer camps, roadshows and various other customer-centric initiatives."

GM India is currently present in North-East through 14 showrooms and as many service centres.

When asked about its expansion plans, Balendran said: "Our plan is to expand the network in tandem with the market growth."

GM India has two vehicle manufacturing plants in Gujarat and Maharashtra, besides a technical centre in Bangalore and the company has invested over a billion dollars to cater to the requirements of the Indian market.