GM India vice-president Amit Dutta in Calcutta on Thursday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Jan. 13: General Motors India has deferred the launch of its mini-car, the Chevy Spark, which was scheduled to be rolled out from Daewoo?s factory at Surajpur this year.

According to GM India officials, though the due diligence of the Korean automaker?s plant is complete, there are certain other things to be sorted out before the unit can be put into operation.

GM India vice-president Amit Dutta said, ?The creditors of Daewoo have to settle certain issues, including the EPCG (export product counter guarantee) issue with the government. Unless everything is cleared, GM India will not take over the assets of the plant.?

Once the plant is in GM?s custody, it could take 12 months to get the paint shop ready. Therefore, launching the Spark is not possible this year.

GM India has also taken a decision to scale down the production of the Opel Corsa from 8,300 cars in 2004 to 8,000 this year. The focus will be more on the Chevrolet brand of cars ? the Chevrolet Tavera and the Chevrolet Optra.

According to Dutta, Daewoo India is said to have a cumulative debt of Rs 1,100 crore and total liability of nearly Rs 5,000 crore.

?We have kept a timeframe for taking over the Surajpur plant of Daewoo. Beyond that we would not wait. We would go in for other options,? said Dutta. However, he refused to comment on how long GM India wants to wait.

Keeping that in mind, the car major has already drawn up plans to enhance its capacity to meet the growing demand.

GM India has taken the decision to double its production capacity at its plant in Halol, Gujarat. The annual production of 30,000 cars will be increased to 60,000 to meet a sales target of 9,000 Optras, 21,000 Taveras and 8,000 Opel Corsas in 2005.

?The capacity expansion will take place within the next four months. Following this expansion, the investment of GM India will go up to Rs 1,380 crore,? he added.

Reasoning the reduction in the Corsa production, Dutta said new models, like the Getz, which have entered the market will heat up competition. Moreover, the Santro and the WagonR are offering huge discounts. ?India is a price-sensitive market and any reduction enhances sales,? he added.

The company plans to sell 38,000 cars this year as against 26,166 cars in 2004.

GM India today launched the new-look Chevrolet Optra which has been given an exterior as well as interior facelift. The ex-showroom price of this car is Rs 7.67 lakh.