John Paul Xavier of IIT Mumbai wins 'Design the next Chevrolet Contest'

     ‘Design the next Chevrolet Contest’ organized by General Motors India has been won by John Paul Xavier from Industrial Design Centre, IIT Mumbai and is awarded with a brand new Chevrolet Beat. Sachin Panchal from DSK international School of Design, Pune is the first runner up of the contest.

     General Motors India had organized the Design Contest in India for young and aspiring engineering/ design students to encourage to opt for automobile designing career and to provide Indian automobile manufacturers with talented designers from India. Over 1000 participants took part from across the country out of which 40 designers were shortlisted.








     The main objective of the contest was to design a car of Indian tastes, preferences and requirements. The panel of judges included Karl Slym, President & Managing Director, GM India, Hormazd Sorabjee, Editor-in-Chief, Autocar, Anil Saini, Director, GM India Design, Global Network Teams & Sumit Sawhney, Vice-President, Sales, Marketing & After-Sales, GM India who shortlisted the candidates on the parameters like aesthetics and visual appeal, ergonomics, developmental potential and overall presentation. The jury also kept in mind Indian driving conditions, the environment and safety.


Press Release:
Karl Slym, President & Managing Director, GM India –
“We at GM India, always believe styling and designing of vehicles to be an integral part of whole manufacturing process, and have always recognized and encouraged the designers who are helping to develop India as a destination for automotive styling and designing. The design contest offered a platform to the young students who aspire to make it big the in the field of automotive designing which eventually will benefit the automotive industry in the long term.”

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GM's Halol plant on labour strike

     American automobile giant General Motors is facing a labour strike at its Halol plant in Gujarat. Over 700 workers are on an indefinite stike at the factory site. This is the second strike at the factory in the last 5 months. The company has reported the strike as illegal.

     The Halol plant is very important in terms of GM’s future plans in India. Production had been ramped up recently to roll out LCVs which is manufactured in association with GM’s Chinese partner SAIC. In last December, the company had signed an settlement agreement for 3 years covering salary increase and productivity related matters with the Employees Union. The workers on strike belong to a new union formed in the company.


     According to Mr. P Balendran (VP – Corporate Affairs, GM India), “A group of employess who opposed to the earlier settlement agreement have gone on stike without notice. Government authorites have intervined into the matter and have declared the strike as Illegal. The workers on strike are threatening and attempting to stop the workers who are willing to work and forcing them to join their illegal strike.”


     He also said that workers who were willing to work had already resumed to the duty and the management takes this opportunity to appeal to the remaining striking workers to stop threatening their fellow workmen and resume to their duties failing which the management will be left with no option to initiate action against striking men.

Content Source: Autocarindia

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General Motors plans to launch new small car below Spark in India

     General Motors India is planning launch a new small car below the Spark in Indian market. The new small car will be rival to Maruti Alto which became the world's largest selling car last year. Last year alone 3,00,000 units of Alto was sold in India and abroad.


     The new small car will be developed with the help of GM's Chinese partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC). Couple of weeks earlier Nissan had announced a small car to rival Alto. It is for sure overseas automobile manufacturers are serious to spoil the Maruti's party.

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General Motors India's furture plans

• Beat LPG next week.
• Diesel Beat by Jun-July
• Wuling MPV by March
• Electric Concept vehicle by April
• End of year - SUV smaller than captiva
• Total 6 new models with 14 fuel variants in next 24 months
• Camaro & Volt to come only when they are manufactured with RHD versions

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GM introduces locally developed new 1.2 litre SMARTECH petrol engine for India

     General Motors has introduced a new locally developed 1.2 litre SMARTECH petrol engine for India. The new engine will be seen in Chevrolet small cars Spark and Beat.


     The new SMARTECH engine has 4 cylinders with capacity of 1199 cc producing decent power of 80.5 Ps @ 6200 rpm and torque of 108 Nm @ 4400 rpm. The engine has been developed by GM Technical Centre in Bangalore in cooperation with GM’s new engine plant in Talegaon. The new engine will be manufactured at GM’s Talegoan plant.

Benefits of the new engine:

1. Developed and tested in India
2. For Indian Driving conditions
3. Better lower gear ratios (for fast pick up)
4. Better Mileage (ARAI figures not yet released)
5. Delivery to start from February

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