Amongst the crowd of global carmakers who entered the Indian market GM was amongst the first wave. The company entered the Indian market with the Opel brand in 1996, launching the Astra and following it up soon with the Corsa and Vectra.
If there were an award for launching new models and brands, it would be difficult to beat GM India. In the 18 years of its existence, the company has launched 17 models till date. This is not counting the facelifts and mid-cycle freshening-up exercises.
The company not only launched 17 nameplates, it is also the only carmaker to have sold two brands – it started with Opel but shifted to Chevrolet in 2006 for better Feng shui.
As of today, GM India sells the Spark hatchback in the Mini segment; the Beat and Sail U-VA hatchbacks in the Compact segment; the Sail sedan in the Mid-size segment, the Cruze sedan in the Executive segment; the Tavera and Enjoy UVs in the UV2 segment; and the Captiva SUV in the UV4 segment. That is a portfolio of eight models, same as Toyota India and significantly bigger than Ford and Honda portfolios, both of which sell only five models each in India. In comparison, the much bigger Hyundai India sells ten models in the Indian market.
Wrong products:
Its recent products – the Beat hatchback, the Sail twins and the Cruze sedan have been fairly competent. In the hands of another manufacturer, some of these would have been bestsellers, except GM India. not all products have been competent.
Wrong Strategy
“We have learnt our lessons and have tuned our strategies accordingly,” said a senior GM executive to the mediaon 22nd December 2006, while unveiling the Aveo U-VA. Clearly the lessons were not learnt. The Aveo U-VA did not sell and its successor, the Sail U-VA is not selling as well.
Part of GM India’s problems is that its product portfolio and any future product pipeline is a mix of what its Korean cousins and Chinese half-cousins can produce. So it is normally very late to any party. The Beat is a competent hatchback but GM India spent a decade-and-a-half to reach that point in its evolution lifecycle. And it would take many more years for GM India to respond to emerging niches like seven-seater compact MPVs that are not call-center cabs.
To its credit, GM has taken some positive steps, including exporting out of India, starting with the Beat hatchback to Chile. More exports may follow while the product side would be bolstered with facelifts. The Cruze replacement is a few quarters away and so is the next generation Beat.
If there were an award for launching new models and brands, it would be difficult to beat GM India. In the 18 years of its existence, the company has launched 17 models till date. This is not counting the facelifts and mid-cycle freshening-up exercises.
The company not only launched 17 nameplates, it is also the only carmaker to have sold two brands – it started with Opel but shifted to Chevrolet in 2006 for better Feng shui.
As of today, GM India sells the Spark hatchback in the Mini segment; the Beat and Sail U-VA hatchbacks in the Compact segment; the Sail sedan in the Mid-size segment, the Cruze sedan in the Executive segment; the Tavera and Enjoy UVs in the UV2 segment; and the Captiva SUV in the UV4 segment. That is a portfolio of eight models, same as Toyota India and significantly bigger than Ford and Honda portfolios, both of which sell only five models each in India. In comparison, the much bigger Hyundai India sells ten models in the Indian market.
Wrong products:
Its recent products – the Beat hatchback, the Sail twins and the Cruze sedan have been fairly competent. In the hands of another manufacturer, some of these would have been bestsellers, except GM India. not all products have been competent.
Wrong Strategy
“We have learnt our lessons and have tuned our strategies accordingly,” said a senior GM executive to the mediaon 22nd December 2006, while unveiling the Aveo U-VA. Clearly the lessons were not learnt. The Aveo U-VA did not sell and its successor, the Sail U-VA is not selling as well.
Part of GM India’s problems is that its product portfolio and any future product pipeline is a mix of what its Korean cousins and Chinese half-cousins can produce. So it is normally very late to any party. The Beat is a competent hatchback but GM India spent a decade-and-a-half to reach that point in its evolution lifecycle. And it would take many more years for GM India to respond to emerging niches like seven-seater compact MPVs that are not call-center cabs.
To its credit, GM has taken some positive steps, including exporting out of India, starting with the Beat hatchback to Chile. More exports may follow while the product side would be bolstered with facelifts. The Cruze replacement is a few quarters away and so is the next generation Beat.
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