Chevrolet India Losing Dealer Network

Modified On Nov 05, 2015 03:16 PM By Abhijeet

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The American car manufacturer, Chevrolet is gradually losing its dealer network across India, the number has came down to 223 from around 280 outlets in a matter of several months. The reason for this slowdown is a rapid decline in sales. Most of the dealers are scaling down their operations or surrendering the dealership.

The company has seen a hefty drop in sales at 33% compared to the last year’s number. In the period of first 2 quarters in 2015 from April to September, General Motors India sold 19,299 units (cumulative sales). And distributing the number across the 223 outlets we find that only 15 units were sold from each in a month.

Chevrolet India will be focusing on the current set of dealerships rather than focusing on expanding the network. They had announced an investment of Rs 6,400 crore in July 2015. The investment will be followed by production halt at Halol plant and the manufacturing will be consolidated at the Talegaon plant, where the manufacturer will be producing the 10 products in pipeline slated to launch in the coming years.

A spokesperson from GM India said "In order to create a sustainable business environment both for us and our dealers, we have taken some important steps in the past 18 months; from the dealer's point of view, we have increased the dealer margins to industry-best standards. Our dealers are confident that in coming years, with 10 new product launches, they will be able to create not only a sustainable but a profitable business." He further added “Going forward, we are focused on the long term fundamentals of the Indian business, as well as the financial health of our dealers."