GM in talks to bring Chinese cars to India

NEW DELHI: US auto giant General Motors is in advanced talks with its Chinese partners on a proposal to bring their vehicles to India, the Press Inside GM
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Trust of India reported on Saturday.

GM began talks with its partners Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) and Wuling eight months ago to explore possibilities of bringing their light commercial vehicles to India.

"Now we know what can work in India and what cannot," Karl Slym, the president of General Motors India, was quoted as saying by the news agency.

"We are at a position (where) very, very soon we should be able to make a decision" on how to proceed, Slym said.

GM and the two other companies have a three-way joint venture in China known as SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co.

They are also looking beyond bringing only commercial vehicles to India through their partnership, the news agency said.
SAIC-GM-Wuling sells both commercial and passenger vehicles, including Wuling brand minivans, Wuling brand mini-trucks and the GM Chevrolet Spark mini-car.

"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 was reported as saying.

There was no immediate comment available from GM, which is the biggest foreign automaker in China with expected sales of at least 1.4 million vehicles in the country this year.

Lately GM has been making major efforts to capture a larger slice of the fast-growing Indian vehicle market.