General Motors India has said it will begin production of vehicles for the export at its Talegaon Plant in the second half of 2014. It will kick off exports with the first batch going to Chile in Latin America in the first quarter of 2015.
Its first export model will be the left-hand-drive version of the Chevy Beat. The car is already built and sold in many markets worldwide. “The start of Beat exports underlines GM’s commitment to India and demonstrates the quality of the country’s growing supplier base,” said GM India president and managing director Arvind Saxena. “The exports will create more jobs within GM India and the supplier community while helping improve capacity utilisation at the Talegaon plant,” said Saxena. The plant has a capacity of 2,25,000 units. Available with petrol and diesel engines, the Chevy Beat was introduced in 2010. It sold close to 30,000 units in 2013-14 as per data from SIAM.