AS GM EXITS, PARTNER SAIC PREPARES TO ENTER INDIA
To be first Chinese automaker to make in India; to bring iconic British brand
US car maker General Motors (GM) might have announced its exit from India, but its Chinese joint venture partner SAIC Motor Corporation Ltd is all set to enter India with the Morris Garages (MG) brand, an iconic British brand that it had acquired in 2008.
The $100-billion SAIC, which is bullish on the Indian automobile market, that is slated to become the world's third largest by 2020, would have a dedicated manufacturing facility in the country, and would be the first Chinese automaker to do so. The operations are likely to commence in 2019 from a fully-owned facility, and functional-level appointments have already begun. It has registered its Indian subsidiary as MG Motor India and a corporate headquarter is planned in Gurgaon.
SAIC, which is a joint venture partner of GM in China, was looking at the Halol factory of GM which was shut down by the latter on April 28 this year. As such, SAIC signed a term sheet to evaluate the Halol plant. But this April, the company said the Halol plant deal is subject to GM's submission of all government nods, settlement of labour and all other pending issues by GM.
An SAIC statement said, "The company is in the process of finalising its manufacturing facility and is firming up its product strategy for the Indian market, details of which will be announced at a later stage." P Balendran, executive director of MG Motor India, said they were indeed in talks with the Gujarat government, however, nothing has been finalised yet. "We continue to look for various options to finalise our manufacturing facility in India. Having said this, the state of Gujarat continues to remain our preferred option. We will announce the location of our manufacturing facility once finalised," he said.
Sources in the state government indicated that a team from MG Motor has visited Gujarat recently and they were also considering setting up a plant here if the Halol deal does not go through. At Halol, GM India is negotiating severance packages and transfer options with a few hundred permanent workers who have refused to accept the offer made by GM. TVS Motor on Wednesday announced a partnership with Abans Auto to launch its 200cc passenger threewheeler TVS King in Sri Lanka. The Chennai-based two-wheeler and threewheeler maker said it will leverage Abans Auto's network of over 200 showrooms in Sri Lanka.