Mumbai/New Delhi: Great Wall Motor Co is in talks to open a plant in India, a move that would make it the first Chinese carmaker to operate in the country without a partner. "They are meeting industry. They are meeting government. They are meeting suppliers," Vishnu Mathur, director general of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers - a lobby group said.
Great Wall, which sells its sport-utility vehicles and pick-up trucks in other emerging markets such as Russia and South Africa, is not yet present in India's booming SUV market, one of a few bright spots in the local automotive industry. China's eighth-largest car maker, which sent a delegation to India last week, is targeting 2016 to start manufacturing in India, Mathur said, adding Great Wall executives met SIAM representatives last week.
Passenger utility vehicle sales, helped by subsidies on diesel fuel, rose 62 per cent in the April-November period, while car sales rose 1.3 percent. New entrants will compete with market leader Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Motors. Also, Italian carmaker Fiat said last week it would launch Jeep, an SUV brand controlled by US subsidiary Chrysler, in late 2013.
While India has attracted billions of dollars investment from overseas manufacturers, such as Ford, General Motors and Toyota, Chinese carmakers have yet to make significant inroads. Chinese group SAIC Motor Corp cut its stake in GM's Indian operations to 9 per cent in October, from 50 percent....
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06:03 PM, Dec 10, 2012
New Delhi: Car sales in India registered their steepest monthly decline in over 10 years in October, tanking by 23.77 per cent on account of a huge drop in output by the country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki due to labour trouble, coupled with high interest rates and fuel prices. According to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Wednesday, domestic passenger car sales stood at 1,38,521...
01:40 PM, Nov 09, 2011
