New Delhi: General Motors, which has been in
talks with its Chinese partners SAIC and Wuling for bringing
their products to India, is likely to finalise plans on the
type of vehicles and manufacturing road map soon.
General Motors India President and Managing Director Karl
Slym told agency in an interview that talks that started about
eight months back with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp
(SAIC) and Wuling to explore possibilities of bringing light
commercial vehicles to India have reached the stage of product
identification.
"Now we know what can work in India and what cannot...We
are at a position, (where) very very soon we should be able to
make a decision on what all or what not we can do together
here," he said.
Slym, however, added that at present no understanding or
an agreement has been reached.
GM, which is a party in a tripartite joint venture in
China -- SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co -- is looking beyond the
commercial vehicles that can be brought to India through their
partnership.
"I think the company has vehicles beyond the commercial
vehicles. They also would be very successful if we adapted
them through our engineering centre into India," Slym said.
SAIC-GM-Wuling sells both commercial vehicles and
passenger vehicles, including Wuling brand minivans, Wuling
brand mini-trucks and the Chevrolet Spark mini-car.
Asked if the nature of relationship that GM was looking
at with its Chinese partners (SAIC and Wuling) for India
included equity or just technical collaboration, Slym said:
"It could be anything. The main interest for me is to bring
the vehicles that they have, which are all saleable in India."
He said GM is keen on manufacturing the vehicles in India,
as the company has two facilities here.
"I continue to think that there is a strong benefit for us
to be able to form some kind of relationship here in India
with what our partners in China has to offer," he said.
The commercial vehicles segment offered a lot of
opportunities as there is limited competition, he said.
"I still think there is an opportunity for commercial
vehicle and those people who have got their vehicles in that
area have got it easy at the moment. There is not enough
competition," Slym said.
Stressing that partnerships is the way forward for the
company to be a significant player in the Indian automobile
market, he said: "It is a way that you have to look to be able
to share capabilities for the future, not everybody can do
everything everywhere."
Bureau Report