In a vote of confidence in the country recovering from a terrorist attack in Mumbai, General Motors on Monday said it India would become its powertrain development hub for the Asia-Pacific region.
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This follows earlier General Motors India (GMI) $500m investments in new car and powertrain manufacturing facilities, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said.
“With our engineering facility in Bangalore as the foundation of our business in India, we are making the country the development hub of powertrains for Asia-Pacific region,” GMI president and managing director Karl Slym told PTI.
Considering the fact that the hub will cover countries like Australia, China and Korea, choosing India as the location is a significant decision, he added.
The company already employs 1,600 in its engineering and research and development centre at Bangalore.
“In the second half of next year we may hire… 500 people [of] which 300 will be for the engineering division and 200 for manufacturing at Talegaon,” Slym said.
Though the initial focus would be on development, GMI would also look at making India a powertrain manufacturing hub in future.
“We will have capacity beyond domestic consumption so we will definitely look at exports. Since the engines developed in India will be of small displacements, we will look at markets in Asia-Pacific region and Eastern Europe,” Slym told PTI.
General Motors has eight R&D centres worldwide and 11 engineering centres.
Last October, GM opened its second plant in western India, almost tripling its local production capacity to 225,000 vehicles a year. The company invested $300m in the new factory in Talegaon, about 100 miles (160km) from Mumbai (Bombay).
The company already had capacity for 85,000 cars a year in India. It builds locally developed and GM Daewoo designs for sale under the Chevrolet brand. It also said it would invest another $200m in an adjacent facility producing 300,000 engines a year for both domestic and export markets.
