General Motors to open 50 outlets in smaller towns
Car Maker General Motors is shifting its focus on tier III and smaller towns to boost its sales. General Motors India president and managing director Karl Slym told ET that the company is planning to increase its penetration in smaller towns to beat the market slowdown. "In smaller towns, the impact of slowdown is very little as people there don't rely much on car loans. With good monsoon in the hindsight and good signs this year too, people in rural India are much comfortable," he said.
To tap the emerging markets, the company is planning to roll out 50 new outlets this year, all in smaller towns and tier III cities. At present the company has 250 sales outlets in the country. "A couple of years back, we would have our 60% per sales from metros and 40% from non metros. But now the figures have been reversed. Now with even deeper penetration in smaller cities, we expect the sales contribution from smaller centre to go up to 70%," he said.
The US car maker hopes to sell 1.4 lakh units this year as against last year's sale of 1.1 lakh units. "We grew 60% when the market grew by 30%. This year also we aim to grow by double the growth rate of market," he said.
Apart from that, the company may think of exporting its latest hatchback offering - Beat Diesel - to European market. The 1.0 litre Beat Diesel is the smallest passenger diesel variant developed by General Motors globally. At present the company exports cars manufactured in India to countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. "We may export diesel hatchback to European country after consolidating its position in India. There's lot of opportunity for diesel cars in the European car market. It may not be 70:30 in favour of diesel variants as it is in India but the demand is certainly growing. We need to tap this opportunity. But it will take some time," he said.
To tap the emerging markets, the company is planning to roll out 50 new outlets this year, all in smaller towns and tier III cities. At present the company has 250 sales outlets in the country. "A couple of years back, we would have our 60% per sales from metros and 40% from non metros. But now the figures have been reversed. Now with even deeper penetration in smaller cities, we expect the sales contribution from smaller centre to go up to 70%," he said.
The US car maker hopes to sell 1.4 lakh units this year as against last year's sale of 1.1 lakh units. "We grew 60% when the market grew by 30%. This year also we aim to grow by double the growth rate of market," he said.
Apart from that, the company may think of exporting its latest hatchback offering - Beat Diesel - to European market. The 1.0 litre Beat Diesel is the smallest passenger diesel variant developed by General Motors globally. At present the company exports cars manufactured in India to countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. "We may export diesel hatchback to European country after consolidating its position in India. There's lot of opportunity for diesel cars in the European car market. It may not be 70:30 in favour of diesel variants as it is in India but the demand is certainly growing. We need to tap this opportunity. But it will take some time," he said.
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