The Captiva being launched at the Auto Expo. (AP)

New Delhi, Jan. 9: General Motors India today launched its premier sports utility vehicle (SUV) Chevrolet Captiva.

The car will have a two-litre in-line four-cylinder, single overhead cam 16-valve diesel engine.

Combined with a common-rail direct injection system and a variable geometry turbo (VGT) system, the engine produces 150 PS of peak power at 4,000 rpm and 320 Newton metre of torque at 2,000 rpm.

Torque is produced through a very flat curve, ensuring ample reserves to make frequent downshifting redundant, whether on the highway or in city traffic. The car comes with a price tag of Rs 17.74 lakh.

“The two-litre diesel engine-powered Captiva has everything that a premium SUV customer in India wants,” said Karl Slym, president and managing director of GM India.

The car is expected to compete with Honda’s best selling SUV CR-V and Mitsubishi’s Pajero. The former comes at Rs 19.1 lakh and the latter at Rs 18.1 lakh.

Slym said GM India would invest Rs 700 crore in a new plant at Talegaon, Maharashtra. The company aims to have a capacity of 2,25,000 vehicles per annum with this second plant. Its first plant at Halol, Gujarat, manufactures 85,000 units annually.

The company is also planning to launch alternative fuel-powered variants of its mid-size sedan Aveo.

It is finalising plans to set up a power train (engine and transmissions) manufacturing facility in the country as well.