GM to launch mini-car Chevrolet Spark in April

General Motors India is likely to roll out its mini-car Chevrolet Spark in April.

The launch of is part of GM's plan to be a significant player in the Indian car market, dominated by small cars, with a market share of 10 per cent by 2010.

The initial production of Spark will be done out of GM's Halol plant in Gujarat.

Later, the car will be produced at its new plant coming up at Talegaon near Pune in Maharashtra on an investment of about Rs 1,300 crore.

Addressing mediapersons at the launch of a premium hatchpack car 'Chevrolet Aveo U-VA', P Balendran, vice-president, General Motors India, said that the Talegaon plant would be ready by August 2008 and was expected to have a capacity of 140,000 units a year.

The capacity expansion at the Halol plant started last year, is expected to be completed by March.

The company is scaling up its production capacity to 85,000 units a year from the present 65,000. However, total capacity for 2007 will be about 70,000 as the expanded capacity will be available only from April this year.

With capacity addition through the new plant, GM is expected to gain the capacity to produce 225,000 cars annually by 2008, said Balendran.

During this year, GM plans to sell 20,000 units on the Aveo platform, 20,000-22,000 units of Tavera and 10,000 units of Optra. Balendran also said the company was planning to launch its premium sports utility vehicle, Captiva, and a diesel version of its premium sedan Optra during 2007.

The 1.2-litre Aveo U-VA comes with three variants and the base model will have a price tag (ex-showroom Chennai) of Rs 399,562. The other two variants "" Aveo U-VA LS and Aveo U-VA LT "" will be priced at Rs 439,552 and Rs 479,482 respectively (ex-showroom Chennai). The company also offers the option of a anti-lock braking system for the Aveo U-VA LT model.

This year, the company plans to expand its presence to 96 towns from 79, GM officials said. It also plans to increase the number of showrooms to 214 from the present 95 and workshops to 222 from 98.