General Motors to build Engine Plant in Maharashtra

Business Desk
General Motors formalized an agreement to build a new engine plant in Talegaon, in the western state of Maharashtra. An agreement to this effect was signed between GM India President and Managing Director Mr. Karl Slym and Mr. A.M. Khan, Principal Secretary (Industries), Government of Maharashtra in the presence of the Honorable Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh and host of other dignitaries.

The initial investment in the new GM powertrain facility will exceed $200 million. This is in addition to more than $300 million already invested in the said facility to manufacture vehicles. The Engine plant will have an annual production capacity of 160,000 engines, with the capability of being expanded to 300,000 engines per year. The engine and the car manufacturing plant will employ more than 1400 people in the same facility to begin with and going forward, the employee strength will go up depending upon the requirements.

Speaking on the occasion, the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh said, “We are indeed proud and privileged to have General Motors in our state. The presence of GM in our state once again demonstrates the strengths of Maharashtra as a leading investment destination.” Mr. Deshmukh said that the state will continue to extend full support to GM and ensure its success.

In his speech, Mr. Karl Slym said “The new engine facility demonstrates GM’s commitment to India. We cannot remain a global industry leader without a strong presence in the high-growth market of India. This will enable us to capture more opportunities in one of the fastest-growing vehicle markets in the world.

“The Talegaon engine facility is an important component of GM’s global strategy to establish a strong presence in this market. This is just one of a number of investments, totaling more than $ 1 billion that GM has made over the course of the last few years in emerging markets around the world such as China, Korea, Russia and India. The decision to build the engine facility also in India further demonstrates GM’s confidence in our future and our commitment to growing the business all across the globe,“ said Mr. Slym.

Mr. Slym also said, “The new facility will enable us to continue expanding our product line-up in India”. We have been scouting for a suitable site to set up an engine facility for the past six months. We chose Maharashtra largely because of its outstanding logistics and the pro-active approach demonstrated by the state leadership and the officials in the course of building our car manufacturing plant at Talegaon which is getting commissioned on Tuesday next. It also offered advantages in terms of its employment base, costs, infrastructure, geographical location, etc. After a detailed due diligence and thoughtful consideration, we felt that Maharashtra was the right fit for the new facility.”

The engine facility is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2010.

The engine facility will complement GM’s production facilities in Talegaon and Halol, which build vehicles in different segments. In addition, the GM India Technical Center in Bangalore carries out engineering, design, research and development activities for local, regional and global requirements.

General Motors India is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors Corporation, USA. The company makes the Chevrolet Tavera, Chevrolet Optra, Chevrolet Aveo, Chevrolet Aveo U-VA, Chevrolet SRV, Chevrolet Spark and Chevrolet Captiva for the Indian market.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 266,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 35 countries. In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services.