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GM's Indian unit to launch Opel Vectra

General Motors Corp, the world's largest automaker, said it would launch its Opel Vectra car in India in the next two months to boost its share of a market it expects to grow by eight to nine per cent annually this decade.

Aditya Vij, managing director of General Motors India Pvt Ltd, told Reuters the mid-size Vectra will be imported fully built and most likely will be powered by a 2.2-litre engine and be introduced in both gasoline and diesel versions.

"There are other products in the pipeline -- one next year and one after that. Every year we will launch a new product. The market is growing in different segments and we need to address those," he said.

Vij said GM India expected to sell 9,000 cars in 2002, slightly short of its target of 9,500 but well over last year's 8,012 cars. Industry sales growth has slowed this year but will revive in the years ahead, he said.

"Although the car market has been relatively flat in the last two years, we still believe that in this decade we will start seeing growth of eight to nine percent levels."

The Vectra will be GM's fourth model in India and compete with other premium family sedans such as the Mondeo from Ford, the Sonata from Hyundai, the Accord from Honda, the Octavia from SkodaAuto and DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes Benz C-class.

India's premium sedan segment is only about 18 months old and is estimated at about 5,000 units a year. All models in the segment are priced at over 1.1 million rupees.

The US automaker, in India since 1996, has just a 1.6 per cent share of the domestic car market, although it has a 10 percent slice of the mid-size segment.

The German-engineered Opel Astra, Corsa and Swing models it makes in India struggle to compete with smaller, less expensive and more fuel-efficient hatchbacks.

Small hatchbacks dominate India's 580,000-a-year car market with an 82 per cent market share and mid-size sedans the rest.

In July, GM announced it would outsource engines and transmissions from one of the country's oldest auto companies, Hindustan Motors Ltd for a new vehicle it will launch locally in the future.

GM did not disclose the name of the new model, but Indian newspapers have suggested it could be the Panther utility vehicle from its 49-per cent-owned partner, Isuzu Motors Ltd.

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