General Motors India has decided to withdraw the premium Opel brand from the market and focus instead, on marketing Chevrolet.
Launching the Chevrolet Aveo sedan, vice president of GM India, Ankush Arora said the company had already stopped production of Opel Corsa.
He said GM India would focus more on the Chevrolet brand in India as it was doing well after the launch of Optra sedan and Tavera multi-utility vehicle.
Arora said Aveo had been placed in the C segment that included Hyundai Accent, Ford Fiesta, and Honda City and would be sold at the rate of 20,000 units per year.
The car has been designed at four centres of the company -- in South Korea, Russelhiem, Michigan and China.
GM India entered the market with Opel Astra and followed it up with Opel Vectra, both of which were subsequently withdrawn.
The company has already roped in leading Bollywood stars Rani Mukherjee and Saif Ali Khan as brand ambassadors for the Aveo model and is expanding the dealership network from 77 sales points to 110.
Also, two new part distribution centres were being set up this year in Maharashtra and Delhi in addition to the two in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
Arora said Chevrolet would help the company to grow globally and would sell 50,000 units in 2006, as against 30,837 units in 2005.Do you want to discuss stock tips? Do you know a hot one? Join the Stock Market Investments Discussion Group