GM India to pursue e-car plan on own

GM India said it will stop its plan to develop a small test fleet of 15 electric ‘Spark’ altogether, which was being developed alongwith with Bangalore-based firm.

GM India President & Managing Director Karl Slym told reporters here that GM India will independently pursue development of small electric car.

“General Motors has the capability to develop electric cars. We will look at internally utilising those capabilities for electric small cars in India, which could be Beat or Spark,” Slym said. He, however, declined to put a timeframe on when an electric GM small car would hit the Indian market.

Alternate fuels

Besides, Slym said GM India was working on alternate fuels and expects to launch LPG-powered Beat by the end of 2010.

Further, General Motors said it will launch commercial vehicles and passenger cars from the stable of its Chinese partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) by the end of next year. While passenger cars from SAIC will be sold in India under Chevrolet badge, Slym said the company is yet to finalise on the branding of the LCVs. He said that initially, the company is looking at launching about three models of LCVs, but did not specify on the passenger cars.