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GM India president and managing director Lowell Paddock (second from left) and vice-president P. Balendran (right) with the new Cruz in New Delhi on Wednesday. Picture by Ramakant Kushwaha
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New Delhi, June 27: General Motors India today said it was considering phasing out some models such as the Aveo and the Optra and replace them with new ones.
“We will launch the Sail in both the hatchback and sedan versions in the next few months. This will replace the Aveo U-VA hatchback and Aveo sedan,” General Motors India president and managing director Lowell Paddock told reporters here.
About other models, particularly the Optra, Paddock said: “Like every other car, the Optra sedan also has its own life cycle. This model is ageing, but still there is a steady demand for the car in some parts of the country. We will take a call at a certain point of time to phase out this model, too.”
He, however, did not share any specific timeframe to phase out the Optra or whether any new model was being developed to replace it.
The company will also introduce a multi-purpose vehicle Enjoy by the end of this year, Paddock added.
The company, which today launched a diesel variant of its premium sedan Cruze for Rs 13.85-15.67 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), also said it was adjusting production by having no production days at its factories to prevent inventory pile-up because of the market slowdown.
The company’s Halol facility in Gujarat has an annual installed capacity of 85,000 units, while the Talegaon plant in Maharashtra can produce up to 1.4 lakh units a year. In May, the company had produced 5,986 units, down 24.06 per cent from the same month last year.
Paddock said the company was hopeful of a revival in demand during the festival period this year with a slew of launches in the pipeline and expectations of interest rates coming down in the next few months.
On the new Cruze, Paddock said: “It is the segment leader in India. It is also Chevrolet’s No. 1 car across 140 countries. The car has received overwhelming response in India since its launch in 2009.”
The new Cruze is powered by a 2-litre diesel engine with a 6-speed manual transmission.
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