GM raises a loan of Rs 1,000 cr loan from PSU banks consortium

General Motors India has raised a loan of Rs 1,000 crore from a consortium of Indian banks to part-fund a USD 250 million investment for launching five vehicles from its Chinese partner, SAIC, said GM today. General Motors India President and Managing Director Karl Slym said that the company is planning to launch five vehicles from SAIC in India by the end of the year 2012. Out of these five vehicles, three will be the LCVs (light commercial vehicles) while the remaining two will be passenger vehicles, said Slym.

Last year, General Motors India had stepped into a 50:50 joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) last year. GM will now launch an LCV first by the end of the next year. The other models will follow suit. Slym also said that it is expected that every model requires an investment of USD 50 million. That is why the company has tied up Rs 1,000 crore from a group of Indian banks.

Providing details about the launch programme of the models from SAIC, Slym said that the launch of all the five models should be completed by the end of 2012. He also added that the vehicles would be launched under the GM Chevrolet badge. At the Halol facility, the LCVs will be produced while the passenger vehicles will be manufactured at the Talegaon plant.

He also added that one out of two passenger vehicles will be in Spark, the small car segment while the other one will be in the Aveo, the bigger compact class. These models from SAIC are expected to have 90 per cent localisation as the company will produce the engines from its Talegaon plant.