Hyundai acquires GM plant in Talegaon; to operationalise new factory in 2025

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL), one of India’s largest car manufacturers, on Wednesday announced acquisition of General Motors' plant in Maharashtra’s Talegaon which will help the company augment its capacity by rolling out 1 million cars a year from the new and existing facility in Sriperumbudur.

The South Korea-based automobile major plans to operationalise the Talegaon plant, which was lying dormant after GM quit India in 2017, in 2025 as part of its efforts to augment manufacturing footprint in India. The new plant has an annual production capacity of 1.3 lakh units.

“Since HMIL already has enhanced its production capacity from 750,000 units to 820,000 units (at its Sriperumbudur plant) in the first half of this year, the capacity augmentation of the GMI plant will lay the foundation for HMIL to produce around 1 million units a year,” the company said in a statement, without disclosing amount involved in purchase of the plant.

The Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) for the acquisition and assignment of identified assets related to Talegaon plant was signed in Gurgaon in the

Presence of Unsoo Kim, Managing Director & CEO, HMIL, and Asifhusen Khatri, Vice President (Manufacturing), General Motors India & General Motors (International Operations).

The APA covers the acquisition and assignment of land and buildings as well as certain machinery and manufacturing equipment situated at GMI’s Talegaon plant. The completion of the acquisition and assignment is subject to fulfilment of certain conditions precedent and receipt of regulatory approvals from relevant government authorities and relevant stakeholders.

Leveraging the expanded capacity, HMIL said, it will review plans to launch additional electric vehicle models into the Indian market, manufactured at its Sriperumbudur plant, thus accelerating India’s electrification goals.

The company had in May this year pledged an investment of Rs 20,000 crore over 10 years in Tamil Nadu to produce five new models of EV to cater to multiple segments, setting up integrated facilities for end-to-end EV battery manufacturing base, and increasing the annual production capacity at the Sriperumbudur plant.

“As we reinforce our commitment to ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (Self-Reliant India), we intend to create an advanced manufacturing centre for cars Made-in-India in Talegaon, Maharashtra. Our manufacturing operations are scheduled to begin in Talegaon, Maharashtra, in 2025," Kim said.

The company also said it will make phased investments for the purpose of upgrading the existing infrastructure and manufacturing equipment at the Talegaon plant.

India is one of the world's most promising automotive markets, with a population of more than 1.4 billion as of 2023. The country is currently considered one of the world's top three automobile markets in terms of sales and aims to increase its electric vehicle sales to 30 per cent of total car sales by 2030.

HMIL sold 5.52 lakh vehicles in India last year, taking a 14.5 percent share, ranking second overall among automobile brands in India. Till July this year, HMIL sold 3.46 lakh vehicles, maintaining its second-largest share in the Indian market with a 14.6 per cent share.