GM India at present, has two small cars in its portfolio -- the Chevrolet Spark and the Chevrolet Beat, which were launched on Monday.
General Motors said the Chinese industrial machinery group Tengzhong would acquire the rights to the premium off-road Hummer brand, along with the senior management and operational team. The car maker noted that the deal is anticipated to secure more than 3,000 US jobs in manufacturing, engineering and at Hummer dealerships around the country. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2009. However, the financial details have not been disclosed.
The outsourcer said it is supposed to get $8 million from the US firm. Wipro further added that it is in constant talks with the firm to monitor and assess the situation.
The three bidders in the running are Italian carmaker Fiat, Canadian car parts group Magna and Belgium-based financial investor RHJ International, the report said. The report noted that German chancellor Angela Merkel would meet top officials from the US, General Motors and the bidders for GM's European units Opel and Vauxhall on Wednesday.
Come New Year, cars will be costlier with automakers like Toyota and General Motors on Tuesday saying that they will hike prices by up to three per cent due to rising input costs, while the country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India is still evaluating the situation.
Currently, the company employs about 219,000 people worldwide.
From the Sensex pack, Tata Motors slumped over 7 per cent. Adani Ports, Tata Steel, SBI, Power Grid, JSW Steel and Maruti were the other big laggards. However, Hindustan Unilever and Nestle ended in positive territory.
The Chevrolet Aveo is available in the Indian market with a starting price of Rs 597,000.
The judge overseeing GM's Chapter 11 case has set Friday as the deadline for objections to its restructuring plan. The report noted that GM and its advisers are confident that none of the roughly 500 objections submitted so far would derail the timetable, under which the court is due to consider the sale of most of its assets to a new entity on June 30.
The company's Indian subsidiary General Motors India has already announced a total of $500 million investments in the country to set up new car and power-train manufacturing facilities and it will be hiring 500 people in the second-half of next year. The company, which employs a total of 1,600 people in its engineering and research and development centre at Bangalore, will be enhancing the manpower strength there.
Pune police on Sunday confiscated a luxury car used by controversial probationary Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Pooja Khedkar by allegedly installing a red beacon light on it illegally, an official said.
Tata Motors went ahead with mobilisation of construction equipment at Singur on Monday and enrolment of locals for work on the Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) greenfield plant amid heavy security.
Toyota Motor Corp is likely to have retained its position as the world's best-selling carmaker for the first nine months of the year, beating rivals General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG, company figures showed on Monday.
Beleaguered American auto maker General Motors is in emergency talks with its lenders over a multi-billion dollar debt-for-equity deal which could save the company from filing for bankruptcy, a media report on Sunday said.
How President and Managing Director Karl Slym is steering General Motors India after its US parent filed for bankruptcy.
"We probably could have sold another 20-30 per cent if there was an easy availability of vehicle finance. People continue to be interested in buying cars, but the sheer lack of finance is a concern.The buyer has to decide what his money can get him. I don't feel threatened that a customer of Chevrolet is going to buy the Nano instead," says Karl Slym, president and MD, General Motors India.
General Motors is now worth just a few millions in stock valuation whereas the auto maker boasted of a market capitalisation of nearly $11 billion, exactly a year ago. With the iconic auto maker all set to steer itself into bankruptcy, each share of the company is just than a penny in value. At the closing of the market on May 29, the scrip of General Motors was available for as low as 750 cents and the market capitalisation stood at $457.2 million.
According to the daily, the move comes as the government is getting ready to lift another auto maker Chrysler from bankruptcy protection 'as soon as next week'. Attributing to a source, The Washington Post said under the GM draft bankruptcy plan, the company would receive just short of $30 billion in additional federal loans.
The company currently sells various vehicle brands in the country ranging from hatchback Spark to sports utility vehicle Captiva, priced between Rs 333,000 and Rs 25.71 lakh (Rs 2.57 million), respectivley, (ex-showroom Delhi).
The company had identified some emission-related issue with Tavera and some quality issue with Sail.
"Out of the total sales, we feel that Chevrolet Spark would enjoy major share in total car sales for this year as small cars continue to have largest share in passengers cars market in the country," General Motors India Director (Operations) S Garg told reporters in Chandigarh on Friday.
General Motors India, 100 per cent subsidiary of General Motors Corporation, on Thursday said the company's entry level Chevrolet Spark has crossed the mark of 3 million customers globally.
The mini car is likely to be based on the auto maker's Beat concept, showcased at the New York Auto Show two years ago. It would offer the option of diesel or petrol engines and will be the third small car in GM's offering in the country after Spark and Aveo U-VA. India would be the company's export hub for the mini car, said Karl Slym, president and managing director, General Motors India.
The US government, that invested $49.5 billion in the Detroit automaker to save thousands of jobs at the height of the financial crisis five years ago, lost about $10 billion, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said on Monday.
The note mentioned "domestic problems".
So far, the current year has not been great for the leading car exporters from India. In the top five list of exporters -- Hyundai, Ford, Maruti Suzuki, General Motors and Volkswagen -- it is only Hyundai which is clocking a growth.
The new four-wheeler (4W) electric vehicle (EV) policy may spur the entry of global majors. The manufacturing policy cuts Customs duty to 15 per cent, given a minimum investment commitment. It calls for a minimum investment of Rs 4,150 crore (about $500 million) for making electric four wheelers (e-4Ws), with manufacturing to commence within three years of approval.
General Motors, the world's largest automaker, said it would buy South Korea-based Daewoo Motors' assembly unit in India for an undisclosed price.
'Ratan had the quality that JRD and Russi Mody had -- they could walk with kings and never lose the common touch.'
General Motors India is in talks with the creditors Daewoo Motors India to acquire the car assembly unit of the failed carmaker and has set a timeframe to clinch the deal.
Operations of several top companies, located in central and south Gujarat, continued to be affected on Friday with torrential rains lashing several parts of Gujarat for close to a week.
GM will join a very short list of S&P 500 companies, including Hershey Co and American Water Works Co, with women serving as CEO and CFO.
Leading manufacturers, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and General Motors, are planning to raise prices of each of their models starting from the last week of this month or early next month.
Production was halted at the Halol plant of General Motors in Gujarat because of heavy rains, a senior company official said on Thursday.
The Spark will be available for Rs 2.79 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) compared with its usual price of Rs 3.32 lakh. Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) will offer a discount of up to Rs 40,000 across various models till the end of next month aiming to cash in on the festive season.
