General Motors starts vehicle exports from India
29 Sep 2014
The company shipped the first lot of 140 units of its hatchback Chevrolet 'Beat' from the Mumbai port to Chile last Thursday, the company said in a release.
Beat, which launched in the Indian market in 2010 is produced at the company's Talegaon facility in Maharashtra, which has an annual production capacity of 1,70,000 vehicles and 1,60,000 engines.
GM India president and managing director Arvind Saxena said the first shipment of the Chevrolet Beat demonstrated GM's commitment to make its India-built products available in global markets.
GM India would continue to ship models to Chile on a monthly basis, he said.
He added the company expected to identify additional export markets going forward. He said this would help drive capacity utilisation at the company's Talegaon plant.
The compact car is being manufactured and sold in many markets across the world. It is available both in petrol and diesel versions, and is GM India's best-selling model.
GM CEO Mary Barra participated in the rollout of the first Beat for export on 10 September, as part of her recent India trip.
Included in the company's the Chevrolet portfolio in India are the Spark, Beat, Chevrolet SAIL, SAIL Hatchback, Cruze, Tavera, Chevrolet Enjoy and Captiva.
