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General Motors to expand R&D wing in India
Monday, 15 March 2004, 20:30 IST
NEW DELHI: US-based global automobile major General Motors said Saturday it would expand its research and development wing in India, its first outside America, with a view to enhancing the company's presence in Asia.
General Motors' research and development facility, set up with an investment of $21 million in Bangalore, presently services the US market.
The facility will soon start providing services to General Motors' operations in China, Australia and South Korea, said P. Balendran, vice president of General Motors India Ltd.
The facility's strength would be enhanced from 230 scientists to 400 by the end of 2004, Balendran told mediapersons on the sidelines of a function to mark the first anniversary of Chevrolet's re-entry in India.
The company, which has a market share of two percent in the booming domestic car market, hopes to increase it to three percent on the back of improved sales of its flagship brand Chevrolet.
General Motors has targeted sales of 50,000 passenger cars in 2005, with 60 percent of it expected to be its luxury sedan Chevrolet Optra and the balance being the C-segment cars of Opel.
The company is currently involved in a nation-wide brand building exercise of its D-segment car Optra 1.8.
As part of the exercise, US Ambassador David Mulford flagged off a Chevrolet vintage rally here Saturday. It was followed by a rally of 66 Optra 1.8 vehicles.
Releasing a commemorative book on Chevrolet's history, Mulford hoped India and the US would take advantage of the liberal trade regime for greater capital inflow.
"The US was more open to Indian products, than India was to US market," he said. The combined trade of India and the US in 2002-03 was $24 billions and there is a need to increase it further, he said.
Source: IANS
Source: IANS