General Motors to get aggressive in 2012; No Cruze facelift planned

General Motors was a in a consolidation phase in 2011 and hence did not launch any new models in the last year. The company only launched a few variants of its existing lineup to keep the sales trickling in. However, because of no new launches the company saw a flat growth for the year 2011. General Motors India sold 111,150 cars in 2011, a mere 345-unit growth over the 110,805 units sold the previous year. The American automaker is determined to change all of that in the current year. The company has aggressive plans for the year 2012 which includes 3 new products and 2 refreshes.

The 3 new products that the company is talking about were showcased at the 2012 New Delhi Auto Expo. The existing Aveo twins will be replaced by the Sail models. A new MPV, expected to be called ‘Njoy’, will join the product line. These three new products have been developed by the SAIC joint venture and have been testing in since the last year.

The Chevrolet Tavera has been already replaced by the BSIV complaint variant Tavera Neo. Finally, the Captiva is all set to get a facelift and a new engine in this year. Unfortunately, these ‘aggressive plans’ do not include the Cruze facelift which was showcased at the Geneva Motor show.

Among these new products, GM is betting maximum on the Sail twins. The Sail Twins (hatchback & sedan) will be squarely aimed against Toyota’s Etios twins (Etios & Liva) and Maruti Suzuki Swift twins (Swift & Dzire). GM will introduce both products in segments that have been witnessing maximum growth. On an average, 39,000 premium compacts and 20,000 entry-level sedans are sold in the country every month.

GM aims to treble sales to 300,000 units in India by 2013. The company is planning to launch five new vehicles together with SAIC over the next eighteen months. Both Halol & Talegaon plant can currently manufacture 250,000 vehicles annually.

[Source: business-standard.com]