General Motors 'Smartech' launched in India

General Motors the American auto giant inaugurated its engine which is manufactured locally known as Smartech is all set to roll out in the Indian auto market.

Smartech 1.2 litre petrol mill which has been developed in the General Motors technical centre at Bangalore in India, will go under production in the GM's manufacturing unit at Talegaon, Maharashtra. The engine is developed with aluminium cylinder heads, lightweight pistons with low tension rings beneficial as it will decrease weight and control the fuel emission. The lightweight counterbalanced crankshafts will greatly lower the NVH Levels. The powertain is also equipped with DOHC valve-train along with direct acting valve actuation to enhance the efficiency alongwith a big plastic runner to manifold for better low end torque.

Karl Slym, the President and Managing Director of General Motors India said that the new powertrain Smartech is a product of R&D team effort and rigorous hours which went in validation, testing and designing. The company has introduced the engine to provide better performance on the Indian roads with its innovative design techniques. He also said that the powertrain shows the right potential of General Motors production and engineering capability in India.

The new engine from GM is maintenance free inverted tooth timing chain drive system. This chain drive links engages at lower impact speed which helps in decreasing the noise. The Smartech is engineered to generate durability and power. The durability is due to the epoxy coating on cylinder block and anti corrosion coating on the cam cover baffles, and the use of stainless steel core plugs and also bay to bay ventilation. The engine was tested and validated number of times to ensure excellent performance and is adjustable in all the car models.

At present General Motors plans to suffix the new engine in its car models which it will offer in the domestic car market.

Tim Lee, President, International Operations at General Motors stated that India is an important market for the US auto giant. The company is aiming to match the global resources along with the increasing local capabilities to manufacture top class cars and engine which will capture the automobile markets in India.

General Motors manufacturing unit in Talegoan is affixed with a production capacity of 1.6 lakh engines and after the second phase starts, it will have a capacity of 1.4 lakh mill together accounting to as many as 3 lakh engines. General Motors will introduce 6 new cars in 2011 affixed with the new engine.

General Motors India revealed that the American auto company plans to ship $1 billion components from the Indian auto market for the coming two years time. As per a source from the auto company, GM is assuming to produce as many as 100,000 unit in its manufacturing capacity in West part of Gujarat in the coming months.

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