General Motors, the US auto major, plans to double the level of sourcing of automotive components from India to $1 billion (Rs 4,500 crore) annually in the next two years. For the year 2010, the company has placed $550 million worth of orders to its Indian vendors.
The past couple of years have been tough for everyone 'but things are now definitely looking up. There are certain signs of life in the industry,' General Motors Co's North American president Mark Reuss told reporters on the sidelines of the Chicago Auto Show.
General Motors India had completed all investments intended for the country well before its parent's bankruptcy filing, said Karl Slym, president & MD.
The Italian car giant surprised the recession-hit global auto industry with an announcement that it is bidding to take over the GM's struggling Opel brand to consolidate its global base. Though Fiat entered India almost six decades ago, it is facing rough competition from car manufacturers from Japan and South Korea. It tied up with Tata Motors for building a manufacturing plant near Pune to increase its supply capacity in 2007.
General Motors India on Tuesday sought incentives for owners of cars driven on alternative fuel and tax rate cuts to encourage adoption of such eco-friendly vehicles.
The resignation of Fritz Henderson was approved by the board of directors of the company at its meeting on Tuesday.
The head of GM's European operations Nick Reilly assured on Thursday state premier of Thuringia in eastern Germany Christine Lieberknecht that Opel's Eisenach plant in the state will remain open.
Dr Devdas Shetty is the new dean of the College of Engineering at Lawrence Technological University, Michigan. He said his goal is to see the College of Engineering become a leader in engineering education. "I want to work on providing real-life challenges for students by forming industry partnerships and applied research at the undergraduate level," he said.
GM declined to put a timeframe on when the electric small car would hit the Indian market.
Company officials have maintained that the closure is a routine exercise and is not a fallout of the ongoing global meltdown. "There will be no production at the company's Halol unit for about two weeks," said P Balendran, vice-president, GM India. The company has shut production from December 13 to December 30.
The money will be drawn from the Troubled Asset Relief Programmeme set up to bail out financial institutions.
While Detroit's Big Three wrangle with the US Congress for a bailout, we could be witnessing another extinction story.
Ajit Balakrishnan on mapping the Business Serengeti.
Auto component sourcing has touched $3 billion in India and is expected to double by next financial year-end. Such sourcing has provided Indian players with the opportunity to charge a premium that varies between 5 and 10 per cent.
General Motors Co. plans to remove its GM "Mark of Excellence" from all models launched by the company in the future.
GM India is working on launching a BS-IV variant of the car, but is in no hurry.
New units of the iconic Maruti 800, Ford Ikon (1.3 petrol), Fiat Palio, Skoda Fabia (1.2 petrol) and Octavia (1.9 TDI engine), and Chevrolet Tavera (2.5 DI) of General Motors will no longer be sold in the 13 notified cities from Thursday, which constitute 40-50 per cent of total car sales in the country.
Excise duty cut of Rs 6,000 on big cars to be passed to customers; LCDs cheaper by Rs 3,500.
Some cars that are emblematic of India's automobile industry will no longer come off the assembly lines after this year.
"Just media hype," said a relieved Sachin Kumar, executive of the Auto Vikas showroom of General Motors India in West Delhi's Moti Nagar. "There were some showroom queries on the first two days, but it died down."
There are 50-odd auto component manufacturers from India who supply to Detroit's Big-3 (including Ford).
Indian IT majors like Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Satyam Computer Services -- which have running multi-million dollar deals with General Motors that has filed for bankruptcy -- are likely to face a short-term impact since any loss of business in these slowing economic conditions is a setback.
The United States government may own 70 per cent stake in the restructured General Motors, the ailing auto maker which is battling to avert a possible bankruptcy.
In a chat with Sohini Das, GM India president and managing director Karl Slym says, with the launch of the new compact car, Beat, and a positive response to the Cruze, GM plans to cross the 100,000-unit mark this year in sales.
General Motors (GM) India Limited plans to export Beat, its compact car to Europe and countries in the Asia Pacific region, from January 2011.
A task synonym of moving mountains is done every winter by Border Road Organisation(BRO) of IndiaIn below freezing temperatures, in the most difficult terrain, Border Road Organisation personnel clear snow many, many times every winter to keep the world's highest motorable roads open during the heavy snow season.
Chrysler and General Motors each annually outsource $200-300 million (around Rs 10-15 billion) worth of projects to different vendors, which may be hit by 20-25 per cent, says Avinash Vashistha, chairman and CEO, Tholons, a research and advisory firm. While Chrysler has filed for bankruptcy, there is talk that GM may follow suit.
The companies hope 2010 would be a better year for them as the economy begins to show some signs of recovery.
According to the Auto Component Manufacturers Association, the apex body of component makers in India, global sourcing of components from the country will double from $2.95 billion to $5.9 billion in 2008-09, and is slated to hit $20 billion in seven years.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said he would not rule out the option of forcing out chief executives of banks which have received taxpayers' money but are not performing well.
Attributing to a person familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal said, GM plans to begin paying back a $6.7 billion loan it owes to the US government starting late this year, which would put it on track to potentially repay the entire loan by the middle of 2011.
"We have so far invested $1 billion in India and there is no question of puting a cap on it", Karl Slym, president and managing director of India operations, told reporters in Bangalore after unveiling the SUV Chevrolet Captiva Automatic, a premium Sports Utility Vehicle and small car Spark Muzic Special Edition.
The company, which is also looking to strengthen its position in the sports utility segment, today launched the automatic transmission four-wheel drive version of its popular sports utility vehicle Captiva, priced at Rs 20.3 lakhs (Rs 2.03 million). He said the company will be launching an LPG-driven car in the first half of this year, without specifying details, adding it would be followed by other LPG vehicles.
US auto major Chrysler on Friday said it has received four billion dollars as emergency loan from the government, a move to avert a collapse of the ailing automaker.
In its first major marketing campaign since emerging from bankruptcy, GM is putting its new chairman Edward E Whitacre Jr in the spotlight as the spokesman for the offer to give customers a full refund within 60 days on any GM car or truck, The New York Times said.
GM India has last week announced plans for launching four new models in the Indian markets in 2010. "The new mini-car will be in the market by January next year and we will produce more than 40,000 units in the first year. Of this, we will export 20 per cent overseas, including to the European and the Asia-Pacific markets," GM India president and managing director Karl Slym told reporters on the sidelines of the SIAM annual convention in New Delhi.
The Cruze is built on a new platform and includes a next-generation power train.
Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh declared that the state has received approx Rs 20,000 FDI in the last 3 years.
Noting that the talks between GM and Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity arm that owns Chrysler, began over a month ago, the New York Times said, 'negotiations are not certain to produce a deal.' Quoting two people close to the process, the newspaper said that chances of a merger were "50-50" as of Friday and "would most likely still take weeks to work out."
