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A request to moderators:
Every (usually fabulous) review of TBHP starts with an evaluation of "Pros" and "Cons".

Can't we need to add one more topic, so that it will be "Pros", "Cons" and "Company Outlook"? This latter section should analyse the financial health of the manufacturer, for anyone who's planning to buy a car in India in these days and days to come must read the balance sheet of the manufacturer too along with the usual tech data.

Now we know why the Tavera has never received any BS4 engine update. The fact that GM, once a textbook example for "MNC", is leaving the world's fastest-going economy and auto market, shows the level of callousness, arrogance and ignorance that have prevailed in the top echelons of this company. :deadhorse

Whoa! Tough times.

Last I heard, SAIC itself has recruited Balendran.

SAIC might work completely independently of GM.

Not everyday that a car company exits India :). We'll hold off on this for now.

I dont think they have completely given up. IAB reports theres still some testing on the Beat and Essentia.

From the ET artice;

They are following market response and general media feedback which can be an important reason why the spin MPV was shelved mid-testing.

The Beat siblings stand a better chance as its not an all new vehicle rather just updates on the old platform. This should help them price it competitively.
Also the Tigor pricing has given them a scope to undercut it by say 20-25k when launching the Essentia. The one big problem with Beat being it was old and it lacked contemporary features,
as a design it still looks decent IMO. together if the twins manage 5k between them it will give GM enough footing to launch newer fresher products.

However there are a few questions I must ask,

1) What happened to the Adra concept?

2) What happened to the Amber platform?

I am using a Chevy spark which has completed 8 years couple of days back.

Its crossed 1L + kms with no issues whatsoever. Its good for another couple of years atleast if I persist with it maybe even more. I might use it till its scrap.

In the first 3 years I spent 0 rupees in service cost till 45K kms against the 10k I paid upfront for the "CPCO" scheme by the late Karl slym. The ASS folks though very co-operative were careless too.

Nothing could beat its engine refinement in the early years where one would double crank the engine unknowingly while it was on.

It has been overloaded, taken where it shouldnt go, and transported stuff from computers to construction material and still serves me well.

If I had the money I wouldn't have minded upgrading to another Chevrolet all these years. Now it seems soon that wont even be an option anymore.

It would be sad if they just shut shop like this.

The problem lies here too, and not just with Chevrolet -



1) One Manufacturer holds 48% market share
2) Top 3 manufacturers hold 74% market share
3) Top 5 manufacturers hold 85% market share

Remaining 10 manufacturers get to fight over scraps. As I mentioned a couple of times before, Maruti's dominance is bad for pretty much all stakeholders (customer, dealers, manufacturers, government) in the car industry.

I feel quite bad about this because my first car (on which I did 100,000 kms) was a Chevrolet. Not wait, it was a Daewoo masquerading as a Chevrolet - but it still had a bow-tie on its grille.

That dominance might come to an end when the new car assessment program is in place and MSIL cars need to pass crash tests. Regulations can kill businesses that are virtually unstoppable. An example is the global tobacco industry; a more recent example is the blanket ban of devices and laptops introduced by the Trump administration in those gulf-based carriers last week.

Please note that I have absolutely no grudge against MSIL. Buying a car is big moment for any Indian and MUL/MSIL have made this moment happen for millions of Indian families. I should also mention here that I requested for test drive of Brezza, a car with a waiting period of 21 weeks, from a dealer 30 kms away from my home and the test car arrived exactly as promised. That's marketing!

Suzuki already sells safety-compliant cars globally, so it's not like they don't know how to make safe cars. Maruti will update their cars & easily clear those tests.

Let's not go anymore off-topic now please.

I don't think that they would take such a drastic decision especially after closing down the halol plant last month. Beat 2017 and Beat Essentia have been spotted testing regularly on the Mumbai Pune Expressway and a company which plans to shut operations would not invest into New Vehicle testing. It may be true that they may have stopped production of some vehicles due to the imminent launch of next gen versions. Having said that the kind of planning and market understanding that GM India have shown it won't be surprising if this indeed turns out to be true.

GM Has sold the Halol Plant to SAIC.

Link to news item : http://www.hindustantimes.com/autos/...HFWFjIBbK.html

But looks like GM just wants to recover some investment and start manufacturing India specific cars in Talegaon unit. In fact, in The Machinist magazine (Feb 2017 edition) GM India Boss Mr. Kaher Kazam has exclusively talked about how he plans to turn around the business.

Definitely no Exit!

Yep, such a "top heavy" marketshare table doesn't bode too well for competition (& hence the free-ish market) in the long run. A healthy free market should have pretty strong mid-field runners and profitable backmarkers as well! :)

I do believe the mid-field runners are slowly becoming stronger now. Take Renault, for instance. They jumped from being a backmarker to a strong & steady 10k+ a month mid-field runner with the Kwid's launch. Tata (who were in a free fall a couple of years ago) managed to halt their slide and began to charge up the field with successive new launches. They even briefly landed on the podium for one demonetised month (Nov '16). Ford too, can sell ~ 10k units a month if they put in more effort.

It may be a classic chicken & egg situation for the backmarkers. Unless they sell more cars and have more dealerships & service centres, how can they move up the field? And unless they have more dealerships, how can they sell more cars?

The answer may be as simple as one blockbuster product that makes the market sit up with awe and take notice. Perfect example - Renault's Kwid!

Ah! Optra was the one that marked the beginning of good times for GM in India. The future looked very promising with a whole load of relevant-for-India GMDAT (now GM Korea) products that Chevrolet inherited from Daewoo. The Optra was a well-rounded car that came with a range of engines and even gave us the first large hatchback in the Euro family class, Optra SRV - a product that was way ahead of its times! It was followed by the Aveo twins and Spark. The latter proved to be very popular. The introduction of successors to the Optra & Spark, Cruze & Beat respectively, made Chevrolet quite a strong competitor in the market. Sadly, they couldn't quite sustain the momentum after that.

I gave my 12 year old Elantra for brake repairs, I was asked to transfer ₹20K so that they can procure parts and start work, I did as advised and they got it done and kept me posted all along the way. Even kept me posted about the wrong parts arriving and I need to wait further. I that's the way things work. I gave it to HMP Chennai. I think you need to trust them.

Regards Chevy leaving India! I think FIAT and Mitsubishi must have left India long back :uncontrol:uncontrol when these companies can hang around Chevy can too!

The way these things work, it is quite possible that GM India boss was not kept completely in the loop. So till a decision is actually taken by GM International, some semblance of normality will be there (road testing etc). Because a decision could go either way (We will exit India or We will continue for 5 years).

You can't freeze everything just because GM International is 'reviewing' India operations.

Selling of assets (Halol plan) to SAIC, but absorbing the liabilities (employee wages etc) of the plant means that this is NOT a cost saving move. This looks like a part of exit plan.

It's a point well made, thank you.

To counter that, I wonder if the "scraps" might be worth fighting for. It takes work/commitment from the manufacturer.
Anyway, there's been lots of discussion around GMs woes over time, so I wouldn't rehash it, but the sales figures for Mar'17 seem to have plummeted (-57% YoY). So one really has to wonder if they are circling the drain. And unlike Fiat, which has cash flow thanks to its engines, GM doesn't really have that to fall back on and keep it afloat.


Source: AutoPunditz

Perhaps it is too late for GM to try and release a product catering to our market specifically. For example, even a relatively late entrant like Renault-Nissan tasted success with the Duster (and little else) till they released the Kwid.

1. Fiat has an engine supply business which gives it 80-90% of its revenue.

2. Mitsubishi was technically never in India themselves. They just picked a lame partner, invested some pocket change and their SUVs were on sale. You can't compare a ghost company to someone like Chevrolet which has mega factories, R&D facilities & more in India.

I have a slightly different POV on GM exiting India.

I think it's a smart business decision from GM. I think for GM, India is still a small market. Yes, it might be one of the fastest growing, but the numbers are still small when compared to the major markets, and where Maruti's and Hyundai's dominance is expected to continue for at least a decade(just a forecast from the way both have positioned themselves in the last few years and not forgetting the goodwill they have garnered over these years with consistent delivery of good products and After sales), it leaves a very small space for other players to operate in. Also unlike other major markets, India's market lies mostly in 3 - 9 Lakh rupee bracket, and that lessens the already reduced space.

I think GM realized that the kind of fight they have to put in, to gain market share in that small and crowded space is just not worth it, hence the decision to exit. Fairly rational in my opinion.

Ideally, if I'm an international manufacturer and I'm doing well in major markets, I wouldn't worry about leaving a market that is in its nascent stage. Yes the growth potential is there, but that is in future which is at least a decade or two away, and at the moment and looking into the immediate future the conditions are not conducive enough. So as and when the situation changes, GM, with its financial might, can always make a re-entry with some other badge name other than Chevrolet. People didn't really bother with Kwid being manufactured by Renault, even though Renault just had one hit previously in the form of Duster. So all GM needs for its re-entry is one good product and build it from there, (that is) when they sense the market has grown enough and there are many segments with enough potential in each.

Having said these, I see car making business as not a passionate business anymore, it's just like any other business now, it's just all about money. What with even the mighty Mercedes going with C, E and S with all looking almost the same just differing in size and features.

Cars used to be a piece of art, but that was once, not anymore.

Pitfalls of capitalistic society!

Totally & completely agreed.

If I were Mary Barra, here's how I'd look at things:

- India is just one market of the 100 that I'm present in.

- After 20 years of being in India, my company isn't making a buck. On the other hand, it's losing hundreds of crores every year.

- We've tried selling multiple brands (Opel, Chevrolet) and cars from multiple origins (Europe, Korea, China, Japan). Nothing worked.

- There are two very formidable competitors who own 75% of the market (Maruti & Hyundai). At best, I'll get bread crumbs for dinner.

I would honestly spend my money & the time of my people elsewhere. If GM can exit Europe, they can leave India too.