SAIC-GM-Wuling minivans set to enter India market

(chinatrucks.com, Feb.23, 2010)SAIC Motor, General Motors and Liuzhou Wuling, which formed SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) venture, have been discussing which vehicle models to be promoted in India after SAIC became a major shareholder of GM's Indian unit, and media guess is that SGMW minivans may roll into India first, SinoCast reported recently.

Ding Lei, general manager of Shanghai GM, denied that Buick Excelle would be exported to India when asked about SAIC's plan for the Indian market. At the launch of its new Wuling SunShine, a top executive of SGMW revealed that Wuling's minivans would possibly be first exported to India.

SAIC Chairman Hu Maoyuan previously disclosed that the company would launch competitive low-price car models in India, like new Sail and Wuling's minivans. It should be very profitable for SGMW to export Spark to India, as the model is sold by GM in the global markets.

SGMW, as GM's mini-commercial vehicle venture in China, last year became the first automaker in China to sell over 1 million vehicles in a year, up 63.9% to 1,061,213 units, including 596,630 units of the Wuling Sunshine. The venture sold 119,969 vehicles in January 2010, up 59.6% year on year.

As SGMW contributes more to the GM's China sales, the U.S. giant plans to acquire a 10% more stake in the joint venture from Liuzhou Wuling. GM and SAIC are taking the hot-selling Wuling minivans into their global strategies.

While Shanghai GM provides a rich range of sedan models in the Chinese market, SGMW, which is strong in the minivan sector, will look for more opportunities in the burgeoning markets like India.

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