India, along with China and Brazil, will be critical to General Motors' growth strategy in the coming years, according to Mr Timothy E. Lee, President, GM International Operations (GMIO).
These three countries could account for at least half the company's business in the coming years as it begins to put its house in order after "a humiliating period" last calendar when it ended up going bankrupt. "India represents a huge opportunity to grow the Chevrolet brand," Mr Lee said during a brief stopover here on Sunday.
He reiterated that effective execution of the commercial vehicle plan was critical to growing GM's business in the country. This will be spearheaded by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC), which has entered into a 50:50 joint venture with GM India.
The Wuling truck series, which will be part of this alliance, will compete in the country's rapidly growing pickup segment, where Tata Motors rules the roost. These trucks are already being exported from China to other parts of the world under the Chevrolet brand. SAIC also plans to bring its passenger car range to India which could be competitively priced.
Mr Lee said that all this translated into an opportunity for both GM and SAIC to grow their individual businesses in India. The two are partners in China where GM is the market leader. From SAIC's point of view, this alliance represents the ideal entry point to India, which is the second fastest growth region for automobiles after China.
"I am looking forward to creating the second century at GM. There is a strong plan going forward," Mr Lee said. He operates out of GMIO's headquarters in Shanghai and is in charge of Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa and West Asia.
GM began plotting its turnaround script for India soon after the worldwide acquisition of Daewoo. This also marked the beginning of the Chevrolet phase in 2000-01. GMDAT (GM Daewoo Auto and Technology Company) has played a key role in designing products such as the Spark and Optra for India.
"The teams from India and Korea will continue to co-ordinate in the future too," Mr Lee said.
Quite unlike the recent past though, there will be more local product development in India, thanks to the new GM plant at Talegaon near Pune that has the capacity to roll out nearly three lakh cars. The company also has a powertrain facility in place here while its Bangalore technical centre works on a slew of new car programmes across GM centres globally.
It is in this context that India is expected to play an important role for the company which could even include manufacturing a made-in-India car eventually on the lines of what Suzuki has in the pipeline.
Exports of vehicles and components will also be an integral part of GM's business model for the country.
