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GM to Buy More Auto Parts from India | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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NEW DELHI (Reuters) -General Motors Corp. is looking at a “multiple increase” in auto parts sourcing from India, Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said on Tuesday.

Wagoner also said India would be the world’s second-fastest growing auto market over the next decade.

“Half of (the population) is under 25 years, so there’s a lot of potential buyers for everything,” Wagoner said.

Annual passenger vehicle sales in India are forecast to nearly double to 2 million units by 2010, on the back of rising incomes and new launches from the world’s top car makers.

“We are not only focusing on leveraging our supply base to suit our local needs, we are also looking to source more parts out of India to supply our global operations,” Wagoner said at a business conference in India.

“We hope to increase our sourcing significantly over the current level, perhaps as much as five-fold over the next two years.”

Wagoner was in India to launch the mini Chevrolet Spark and visit GM’s engineering centre in Bangalore. He was also expected to meet India’s prime minister.

GM, which aims to have 10 percent of the fast-growing Indian market by 2010, makes the Corsa, the Chevrolet Optra and Aveo sedans and the Tavera multi-utility vehicle at a plant in Gujarat state, which has a capacity of 85,000 units.

It is building a second plant in western Maharashtra state with an initial capacity of 140,000 units and has said it may build an engine and transmission plant as well, as it tries to wrest share from Suzuki Motor Corp.’s Maruti Udyog, Hyundai Motor and Tata Motors.

Its other Asian rivals Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. are also aiming for a significant share.