[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by ram_hyundai

Yes Optra was based on the Nubira. Now i remember the other car along with Nubira was Magna.

I was a 2nd year engineering student in 2005 and was at the GM plant in Halol, Gujarat for an internship during the summer.

I remember two Daewoo cars had arrived at the factory from Korea and they appeared to resemble our Indian Chevrolet Optra.

On the rear it said Daewoo Lacetti

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daewoo_Lacetti

A 'Pooja' was done before the engineers started working on the cars!

[yamaniac]

Chevy India is doomed. I have/had been their customer for the past 4 years. Ask me how pathetic their service is and I could give you pages and pages of not so good reviews. Pathetic company and add to that horrible services. I should have thought twice before I invested my hard earned money into a chevy.

What good is their money if they cant even take good care of their customers and their vehicles. IMHO the chevy should give free 5 years warranty on their vehicle rather than 3, because you will need it.

My friend owns a cab company here and he has an enjoy that's been lying around with a seized engine at 30k kilometers. And these guys are not willing to replace it for free - although under warranty, saying that its a wear and tear problem. Really chevy? you should put your money where your mouth is and stop coming up with stupid gimmicks that's just gonna ruin your existing reputation - or whatever is left of it.

[Mad Max]

Someone asked for a break-up and I have it!

200 million in corporate restructuring i.e. hiring new folks with highly inflated salaries both here and there to take care of this new initiative

200 million in short-sighted plans of improving current crop of cars. Chrome bits and a Special edition to follow

300 million in attempt to bring a few new cars and associated failures

100 million in recalls because installed chrome bits keep flying off and injuring people

100 million to line the pockets within GM and their supplier base

100 million reserve for press articles on how sad and miserly the Indian customer is and how we don't respect American engineering.

There you go!

In all honesty, this company reeks of arrogance that's not typically seen in such a competitive market place. I just hope they are shown their place i.e. fight for the crumbs of our exploding market.

[SYSTEMIZED]

Originally Posted by yamaniac

My friend owns a cab company here and he has an enjoy that's been lying around with a seized engine at 30k kilometers. And these guys are not willing to replace it for free - although under warranty, saying that its a wear and tear problem. Really chevy? you should put your money where your mouth is and stop coming up with stupid gimmicks that's just gonna ruin your existing reputation - or whatever is left of it.

On behalf of your friend, try to highlight his horror story of ENJOY here. You can find other horrible incidents with Chevy branded cars here on Team-Bhp. I am also an owner of Captiva and following that episode by Mr. Ranjan about his Chevrolet Captiva.

My Horror Story: Chevrolet Captiva on Fire!
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...tiva-fire.html

Author also made a petition to forward many others voice to higher grounds. Please sign & share it to make it louder. Here is the link:
Recall Chevrolet Captiva in India to correct engine fire risk and pay fair compensation to victims of manufacturing defect
https://www.change.org/p/general-mot...cturing-defect

The most hilarious thing was that their global CEO Mary Barry didn`t care and neither responded about this issue when she visited India. Are we Indians minorities or they lobbying higher authorities and washing their hands off from unorganized law system.

[NiInJa]

I hope the top guns at Chevrolet understand this pattern of what cars sell in India. If I were to recall their relatively 'successful' cars, they would be

Cruze : Had powerful engine when launched and had attacking looks.
Beat : Again, different looks and interiors like no other car in the segment
Captiva : Not exactly successful, but did sell initially. Nice American butch looks.

Their failures are mostly the Chinese products. In an era where Indians are exposed to the quality and perfection of European and Korean products, this so called auto-giant gives 'china ka maal'. Not that the products are bad, it is the Indian perception that holds for Chinese made things. They should have launched the Sonic twins instead of Sail twins and see the magic happen. The only Chinese thing we Indians grab with both hands is the chow mein (that too 'Indian'ized version)

If they want to succeed, they must bring respectable cars with something unique in them, something disruptive like the Beat and Cruze.

[ram_hyundai]

Originally Posted by yamaniac

Chevy India is doomed. I have/had been their customer for the past 4 years. Ask me how pathetic their service is and I could give you pages and pages of not so good reviews. Pathetic company and add to that horrible services. I should have thought twice before I invested my hard earned money into a chevy.

Mostly people are attracted to chevy products just because of the NO MAINTENANCE frill which is the biggest gimmick i have ever seen in my lifetime. They increased the price by 11000 Rs and did this. We had the old price list and new price list with us.
Whats the use of extended warranty periods. That means you know that you are into the doldrums but warranty will take care. Hard earned cash lying in some ones yards for months? ridiculous.
They believed in their higher ups and they were not bothered about deliverables of these higher ups. A company which has n number of products for India into the pits.
I sincerely pray for GM as i love their products globally and terribly would love to see them come out of this.

[charlessuresh]

Originally Posted by darklord

General Motors to invest $1 bn in India; lines up 10 models
http://www.financialexpress.com/arti...models/110094/

I really hope that the 2016 Camaro with the V8 is one of those 10. Nothing turns heads like a muscle car.

[RavenAvi]

GM has reportedly put this $1 billion investment in India on hold for now, citing a change in it's strategy to not limit the Indian market to the role of a an export hub, but also to have a profitable domestic business.

The decision had been announced at time when GM announced to shut down its plant in Halol, Gujarat, leaving the company with just one plant in Talegaon, Maharashtra.

The company earlier had planned to make vehicles underpinned on the Global Emerging Market (GEM) platform in India for exports. GEM platform has been specifically designed for entry-level compact cars that meet the requirements commonly found in emerging markets such as India, China and Brazil.

With the renewed focus on stabilising the Indian sales and performance first GM has its task cut out. With loss-making operations, negligible market share and lack of a robust product portfolio, GM will have to approach the Indian market almost as a new market. The most important step will be to bring in appealing products since the vehicles from GM's Chinese partner SAIC have failed to make a connect with the Indian consumer.

Financial Express

[i74js]

When the market was growing towards diesel, Chevy was continuing with Aveo and allied petrol cars marketed by Saif Ali Khan; when the market is looking at a rebalance between petrol and diesel, the company is going back on drawing board once again.

It seems that they have no strategy for Indian as well as export market ! Even if the international markets and their respective policies are stable (compared to volatile Indian developments against diesel) the company is not even ready to take a punt.

I have never seen any business operating on zero risk.

They have no MUV, SUV or even the small hatch which can keep the sales book ringing. The complete portfolio of products is old and whatever 2 new cars they wish to still move ahead with (read new launches) may not guarantee even revival of the company in India.

India is a tough market and requires careful planning and implementation of products.

All the best GM.

[NiInJa]

Wise decision I would say, GM would have wasted 1 billion USD otherwise as they don't have any clear strategy for India.

Since no one is interested in their stale products, it might make much sense to make India as their export hub and focus on handful of cars with limited sales and service reach (which I guess they are trying to do now) just to have a 'footprint' in India as far as car sales revenue is concerned.

Disappointed to see GM going this way in India, some of their cars (Beat, Cruze, Captiva Optra) were very good in their prime. Look at Tata, GM. You might learn a few things about perseverance and hope.

[arunphilip]

Slightly off-topic, but its interesting to note that Google News also aggregates news from TBHP:

[GTO]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

GM has reportedly put this $1 billion investment in India on hold for now, citing a change in it's strategy to not limit the Indian market to the role of a an export hub, but also to have a profitable domestic business.

Like GM India's strategy today, the reason they have provided is just HOGWASH .

I think this $1 Billion investment was just a PR stunt. They'd announced the closure of the Gujarat plant at the same time, and simply saying 'don't worry, we're investing $1 billion' would've taken care of the politicians & media.

But then, think about it - if it was your own money, would you invest a billion in GM India, knowing how incompetent the company is?

As things stand today, I don't think GM has a future in India. I'll give it a 50% probability that they'll close down their Indian operations in a handful of years.

[arnabchak]

Having been closely associated with the GM plants at Talegoan and Halol through my previous company where in we were the food services partner for the GM workforce, all I can say is that the company is down in the dumps. The Halol plant is all but shut and the Talegaon plant is operating with 1/3rd of its workforce compared to 2010.
They do not have a single successful model and more importantly, even their pipeline looks bleak and will fail in the long run. The 1 billion investment was basically a ploy for the share holders and the fringe symbiotic companies of GM to continue trusting them. The US giant is all but out of India!!!

[SedatedDrive]

Free cheat sheet for GM India:
How to select models for India? Check if it will sell in Japan. If yes, then launch in India. Oh, it will rule out your Chinese and Korean derived models? Exactly.

Road to profitability:
* Withdraw Chevrolet brand.
* Outsource service and spare parts supply to serve existing customers.
* Disband existing dealerships. None of them should be associated to the next step.
* Bring in Cadillac and Corvette brands with completely new luxury dealerships.

* Service centers should always put customer first with no nonsense. Apply SLA and pay the customer for delays/mistakes. GM India should stand for accountability. This will re-build the image of GM over time.
* Years later, launch GMC brand starting with the 7 seat Acadia with diesel trims fit for India, as a cheaper alternative to the Cadillac SUVs.

* Provide flag staff accessories for all your SUVs.

[blackasta]

Personally, I do not think that the bigger GM cars will do well in India.

A far simpler route can be taken - phase out all current models over the next year.
Launch the new beat, sonic, cruze and malibu.
Also Camaro/Corvette as a Halo product.
Withdraw trailblazer - launch trax and equinox.
Maybe the Colorado too as the lifestyle vehicle to compete with vcross.

So now you have a small hatch, a big hatch, a midsize sedan and a fullsize sedan. Plus a halo car. Plus a small and a medium SUV. Plus a lifestyle truck.
Except the halo product, assemble everything here in India - GM has the factory capacity to do that.

And please stop taking the Indian customer for granted - Daewoo / SAIC derivatives simply won't sell here.

That should be a billion dollars well spent.