General Motors India Private Limited was a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

for its operations in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

had 93% stake in this partnership and the remaining 7% was held by SAIC. It was the 5th largest automobile manufacturing company in India after Maruti Suzuki,

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...

, Tata Motors and Mahindra. After 21 years of operations in India, General Motors ceased selling cars in India by the end of 2017 as a part of its global restructuring actions. General Motors India's primary focus was to manufacture and export of small cars and automotive components. Its export markets included

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and a few other

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

n countries until 2020. Its secondary focus was providing parts and related services for the GM vehicles that were sold in India.

History

began doing business in India in 1928, assembling Chevrolet cars, trucks and buses, but ceased its assembly operations in 1954. GM continued with tie-ups with Hindustan Motors to build Bedford trucks, Vauxhall cars,

Allison Transmission Allison Transmission is an American manufacturer of commercial duty automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems. Allison products are specified by over 250 vehicle manufacturers and are used in many market sectors including bus, refuse, ...

s and off-road equipment. In 1994, GMIPL was formed as a joint venture, owned 50 percent by Hindustan Motors and 50 percent by General Motors, to produce and sell

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

branded vehicles. GM bought out the Hindustan Motors interest in 1999. GMIPL continued to produce Opel cars at the Halol facility until 2003, when it started production of

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

vehicles at that location. In 2000, GMIPL moved its headquarters to Gurgaon. In 2003, the company opened its technical center operations in Bangalore, which included research and development and vehicle engineering activities. The technical center operations were expanded to include purchasing and financial support services for General Motors operations located outside of India (2006), vehicle engine and transmission design and engineering (2007) and a vehicle design studio (2007). GMIPL began construction of a second vehicle assembly plant in Talegaon in 2006, which began production of Chevrolet vehicles in September 2008. In late 2009, General Motors announced that it would put its India operation into a 50–50 venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation of China, which is the partner of GM's main venture in China. In October 2012,

-Chevrolet announced that it has increased stake in its Indian subsidiary to 93% by buying 43% from its Chinese partner SAIC for an undisclosed sum. In December 2017, the company stopped selling Chevrolet vehicles in the Indian market, while the Beat continued to be manufactured at the Talegaon plant for exports. The Talegaon plant was closed on 24 December 2020. In January 2020, it was announced Chinese automobile manufacturer Great Wall Motors was set to acquire General Motors’ Talegaon manufacturing plant near

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

. The plant was expected to be sold by December 2020 but due to the 2020 China–India skirmishes, the Indian government has not yet approved the sale of the plant. This was the last GM plant in India after the sale of the Halol, Gujarat plant to SAIC. The deal collapsed in June 2022.

Manufacturing facilities

GMIPL operated vehicle manufacturing plants in Halol,

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

and

Talegaon Dabhade Talegaon is a town on the outskirts of the city of Pune, India. Demographics At the 2001 Census of India, Talegaon Dabhade had a population of 42,574. Males constituted 53% of the population and females 47%. The average literacy rate was 79%, ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. It maintained headquarters in Halol and

Gurgaon Gurgaon (pronunciation: �ʊɽɡãːw, officially named Gurugram (pronunciation: �ʊɾʊɡɾaːm, is a city located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest of the nationa ...

and a large technical center in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. Its Halol and Talegaon Dabhade manufacturing plants had an combined production capacity of 225,000 vehicles annually. Between 2018 and 2020, this plant only produced the left-hand drive Beat hatchback and notchback for export markets, while the Halol plant was taken over by MG Motor India.

Sales, service and marketing business

Like most other automotive companies in India, GMIPL appoints independently owned dealers to sell, service and market vehicles that it produces. As of August 2008, managed the Chevrolet dealership network (including export dealers located in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan) from its headquarters in Gurgaon, and regional zone offices in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

and

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. GMIPL also sells parts and services to independent vehicle maintenance providers under the AC Delco brand. GM India's sales declined to 6,079 units in May 2012, while the figure last year same month was 8,329 units.

Emission regulation controversy

In July 2013, GM India announced a recall of 114,000 units of the Tavera. After the recall, an internal probe revealed that GM India were violating Indian testing norms. According to the internal probe, some GM India employees were putting tuned higher emission engines which had already failed tests. 25 employees were fired following the incident and GM India would also have to pay a ₹23 million ($358,000) fine.

Models

Chevrolet

Discontinued

Chevrolet Optra The Chevrolet Optra is an automotive nameplate used by the Chevrolet marque for two different compact car models, in the following markets: * Daewoo Lacetti (2004–2013), in markets such as Colombia, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Southeast Asia * ...

(2003–2012) *

Chevrolet Forester A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...

(2003-2007) * Chevrolet Tavera (2004–2017) * Chevrolet Aveo (2006–2012) *

Chevrolet Optra SRV The Daewoo Lacetti is a compact car manufactured and marketed globally by GM Korea since 2002. The first-generation Lacetti was available as a four-door sedan and five-door station wagon, styled by Pininfarina—and five-door hatchback styled ...

(2006–2010) *

Chevrolet Aveo U-VA The Chevrolet Aveo (T200) ( ) is the first generation of the Chevrolet Aveo, a subcompact automobile nameplate from the Chevrolet division of the American manufacturer General Motors. The T200 was launched in 2002, developed by the initially- ...

(2006–2012) * Chevrolet Spark (2007–2017) * Chevrolet Captiva (2008–2016) * Chevrolet Cruze (2009–2017) *

Chevrolet Beat The Chevrolet Spark ( ko, 쉐보레 스파크, translit=) is a city car manufactured by General Motors's subsidiary GM Korea from 1998 to 2022. The vehicle was initially developed by Daewoo and was introduced in 1998 as the Daewoo Matiz ( ko, 대� ...

(2010–2020) * Chevrolet Sail U-VA (2012–2017) * Chevrolet Sail (2013–2017) * Chevrolet Enjoy (2013–2017) * Chevrolet Trailblazer (2015–2017) * Chevrolet Beat notchback (2017–2020)

Opel

Discontinued

* Opel Astra (1996–2003) *

Opel Corsa The Opel Corsa is a supermini car engineered and produced by the German automobile manufacturer Opel since 1982. Throughout its existence, it has been sold under a variety of other brands owned by General Motors (most notably Vauxhall, Chev ...

(2000–2006) * Opel Vectra (2003–2006) * Opel Corsa Swing (2003–2006) * Opel Corsa Sail (2003–2006)

References

External links

* (archived, 11 Oct 2016)
Chevrolet India
{{Authority control Car manufacturers of India Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1994 1994 establishments in India Indian companies established in 1928 Indian companies disestablished in 1953 Indian companies established in 1994 Indian companies disestablished in 2020