General Motors to hike prices by January, 2011

General Motors India, is expected to raise the price of its cars in the beginning of the next year. The American auto giant is also planning to expand its horizon in the Indian auto market. The company will invest $500 million as per the expansion plans. GM is planning to step in the next phase of its expansion. As per the strategical plan, the company will expand by launching new cars and increase its operations. General Motors is also planning to expand in its dealership arena in the coming year across India.

P Balendran, Vice- President (Corporate Affairs), General Motors, expressing views on the price hike, said that, the company is coming under the cost pressure and that is the reason for the price hike. The company wishes to increase the price of its vehicles from 1.5 per cent to 3 per cent across India. He continued and said that, the company is facing a considerable hike wherein the cost of raw materials has increased from 5 to 15 per cent which has raised the production cost.

Karl Slym, the President and Managing Director of GM India ushering on the expansion plans said that, the company has put in more than $ one billion till now and plans to invest $500 million more in future.

General Motors increased the price of its cars in June-July and after that it invested $500 million for expanding its operations in the coming two years. As per the company's plans, in next 24 months, General Motors is looking forward to achieve a larger market share by introducing new vehicles and multiplying the dealership network pan India. The company expects to come up with 6 new car models in India  in the next two years time. The portfolio enhancement will include various new models of van, small car, hatchback and SUVs.

General Motors rules the domestic auto sector with range of winning cars already established. These are Chevrolet Aveo, Chevrolet Aveo U-VA, Chevrolet Beat, Chevrolet Captiva, Chevrolet Cruze, Chevrolet Optra Magnum, Chevrolet Spark, Chevrolet Spark LPG, Chevrolet Tavera and Chevrolet Tavera Neo.

The General Motors with these power vehicles added a milestone as the company crossed its sales target of 100,000 units on November 27th, 2010. The company had an expectational growth of 63 per cent from January to November 2010 over 2009 same period as GM sold 61,321 cars.

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