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23 September, 2011
“We regularly review the situation, see the situation and we will take a decision on a price hike at our meeting next month,” Karl Slym, president and managing director, General Motors India, said in response to queries about an imminent price hike.
He added, “Commodity prices are crazy but as the market slows down, these could stabilise although this has not happened. Crude and steel prices are still high and prices of precious materials, used in catalytic converters, are very volatile.”
On a more positive note, he was confident that the OEM will beat industry growth for a second consecutive year. “Last year, when industry grew at 30 percent, we grew at 60 percent. This year, too, we will be double the rate of growth of the automobile industry. During July and August, the passenger car market has shrunk but we grew at 14 percent in July and 10 percent in August because last year we did not have a diesel in the mini segment,” he said, adding that under the circumstances, they are unlikely to offer discounts during the festive season.
Mr Slym, who was in Pune to inaugurate the city’s fifth dealership and the 252nd across the country, said they will add more dealerships across the country.
Referring to the five new products that GMI will launch in the next 15 months, he said two of the five will be made at Talegaon, its passenger car plant, and three at Halol in Gujarat, its commercial vehicle plant. Of the five, two will be of SAIC design and the remainder three from GM. The Talegaon plant capacity will increase to 1.72 lakh capacity from 1.4 lakh currently by December, to handle the new products. “These vehicles will have local content of 80-90 percent from the start,” he added.
