GM Plans Second Small Car for India

Not quite as small as Tata Nano

General Motors is not looking forward to a rough year in the US, and to compensate in part for the on-coming slow-down GM plans to launch a second small car in India. Their current smallest car on offer is the Chevrolet Spark, priced at 300,000 rupees (or 7,350 USD). The new budget car will not compete with the new Tata Nano, priced at just 2,500 USD.

Automotive News attended a news conference where David Reilly, GM group vice-president said: "We need some thing lower than what we have got now. I think if we could find a vehicle less than that, it would not only benefit India but could benefit other places also, but I would not call it an equivalent of Nano."

Currently, GM holds a 3% market share in India and is in the process of finalizing the building of a second production facility. The new Pune plant will be capable of building 140,000 vehicles annually with production starting in the last quarter of this year but the first trial car to be rolled out this Wednesday already. An engine production plant is also planned, but mr. Reilly could not give any further details about that.

The news comes a week after BMW India has announced that a BMW small car is being discussed, and just two months after the Tata Nano's world debut at the New Delhi Auto Expo.