General Motors India has shipped the first 3,000 left hand drive Chevrolet Beats to Mexico. The vehicles have left Mumbai and are expected to arrive in Mexico within eight weeks with sales commencing in December 2015.
"In keeping with our commitment to the Make in India program, we are proud to celebrate the first shipment of Chevrolet Beats to Mexico, GM India's second major export market," said president and managing director Arvind Saxena. "This is part of GM's strategy to make India an export hub for global markets. We will continue to export Beats to Mexico on a monthly basis."
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The Beat, badged Spark outside India, is available in 70 markets worldwide and has sold over 1m units.
It is produced at GM India's factory in Talegaon, Maharashtra, which has capacity for 130,000 vehiclesa year. GM began exports from India to Chile in September 2014.
"In 2015, we plan to export 20,000 vehicles, compared with just 1,000 vehicles last year," said Saxena. "This number will further increase to approximately 50,000 vehicles in 2016, reinforcing our commitment to the Indian market and our strong local supplier base."
He added, "We expect to identify additional export markets going forward. This will help increase capacity utilisation at Talegaon."
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By GlobalDataDuring her recent visit to India, GM CEO Mary Barra announced US$1bn in new investment there, including exports. Talegaon will increase capacity to 220,000 vehicles by 2025 and become a global export hub for GM, with up to 30% of its annual production planned for sale outside India.
