GM India sales up 43 percent in June

[Slowrider5]

General Motors sales jump by 43 percent in June

http://www.indiaenews.com/business/20070702/58739.htm

Banking on the success of the Chevrolet brand, General Motors (GM) India registered a growth of 43 percent in sales in June as compared to the corresponding period last year.

GM sold 4,779 vehicles in June 2007 as against 3,346 in the same month last year. The company sold 1,550 units of Chevrolet Tavera, 1,227 of Chevrolet Aveo, 498 of Chevrolet Optra and 1,504 units of Chevrolet Spark, which was launched recently.

'With the ever-increasing market demand of the popular Chevrolet brand, GM India has been registering a consistent surge in the monthly sales. The sales figure of each of the carlines is a clear indication of the increasing market acceptance and our ability to live up to our customers' expectations,' P. Balendran, vice-president of GM India, said in a statement Monday.

[importedtuna]

All Daewoo and one Isuzu. Funny how people overseas love Chevrolet so much recently, and none of it is exported Trailblazers or Malibus. Maybe Chevy India is on to something...

[69Firebird400]

I think the trick is inexpensive vehicles and (at least in some cases) styling that is updated with reasonable frequency. The percentage growth is great to see, but it's really only a drop in the bucket in terms of GM's global sales at this point (1,433 extra cars last month, and if they sold that many additional each month of 2007, that would only mean 17,196 extra sales. But I'll take every sale they can get, as long as they are profitable.

[importedtuna]

The interior as well? Sorry, this says Detroit all over it:



Not that the Tavera is much better!

[guitarlix]

This is good news but that interior is bad news because Honda and Toyota are selling good stuff out there. So hope Detroit won't repeat the same mistake all over again.

[HEVguy]

My take on the Indian market and GM products there: These sales increases are good for a foreign market and brand exposure there, however, we are still talking about small annual volumes here, so probably doesn't justify much in the way of extensive modifications for the market's 'desires' (just the needs)... therefore, I am not suprised to see other GM designs, especially inexpensive ones, borrowed for a low cost, emerging auto market like India.

[guitarlix]

At the same time, that's a rapidly growing market and people will quickly associate quality with other brands if GM keeps pushing interiors like that over there.

[CheetahDC]

I'm looking at Chevy India's site and none of the interiors look like that. The Tavera's interior is ugly looking.... but the Spark, Aveo, Optra, and SRV interiors aren't bad. In fact, outside of the Spark and Tavera, all the other ones are available in North America.

[redimpss5]

Originally Posted by importedtuna

The interior as well? Sorry, this says Detroit all over it:



Not that the Tavera is much better!

Seems to be something the world likes and buys!! Why wont they buy them here? You can't buy a new 1985 Toyota anymore!

[Porkfriedrice]

wait. how much did the market grow?

[chinamonty]

I have tried to get up to date figures on India a couple of times and not had much luck.
Does anyone know any websites for me to look at.
India has one major thing in common with China. Rain. Plenty of it at the wrong times. I think both countries need to have a large percentage of their vehicles as slightly "spartan" and a smaller amount to cater for the luxury market and the cities (where you still get floods anyway).
I wouldn't be too worried if the standard of the interior doesn't come up to US expectations. they are being sold to Indians after all.

[Elk]

And 10 years from now all those people will be driving Toyota’s because there first GM experience was a crappy Daewoo rebadge.

But hey GM didn’t care about long term success in the 70's 80's or 90's in America why should they care about it now in India?

Now I just sit back while everyone tells me the Daewoo has changed and they making nothing but class leading high quality cars.

[asim]

India is still a relatively small market for GM, with less than 5,000 vehicles sold there each month. Actually I have never seen the market percentage figures for this particular region. I wonder how big of a percent 4,779 vehicles can be.

[wbjunkie]

GM sales in India are not even a drop in the bucket.
Chk the ratio of total cars sold vs GM cars sold that would be an eye opener.

They face real competition from the SX4. And most of the cars for the maruti stable.
Dont know about Toyota but Suzuki cars are popular here.

[44 mpg by 2010]

China raises tax on big cars engines to cut pollution AND consumption!!! India considering the same!!!

See related article
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...TO01/808130447

'The tax on passenger vehicles with engines bigger than 4 liters will be doubled to 40 percent from 20 percent, effective Sept. 1, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday in a statement on its Web site. Those buying vehicles with engines sized from 2 liters up to 4 liters will have to pay a 25 percent tax, up from the current 15 percent, it said.

"Autos are the giants of energy consumption and pollution emissions and this is a major part of the effort to conserve resources and reduce emissions," the ministry said.

The sales tax for cars with engines at or smaller than 1 liter would drop to 1 percent from the current 3 percent, the Finance Ministry said.

Tax rates of 5 percent to 9 percent for vehicles with other-sized engines remain unchanged.'

Ministry level meetings started 8/19/08 in India.

I don't think this will impact GM's efforts in India for a while ... but China is a different story!