Chevrolet India to launch Cruze by June 2009
According to GM India President and MD, Karl Slym, Chevrolet is looking at launching its new mid-size sedan - the Chevrolet Cruze - in the Indian market within the next six months. Positioned a notch above the Optra, the all-new Chevy Cruze is expected to take on cars like the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla Altis.
The Cruze, which may be launched with diesel and petrol engine options, will be built at GMI's plant in Halol, Gujarat, and could have up to 30% locally sourced components right from the begining. The company will then look at increasing the percentage of local content in the car over the next few months.
Of course, GMI realizes that for volumes, it will have to continue to concentrate on the smaller cars segment. In recent months, GMI's sales growth has primarily been fueled by the Spark compact hatchback, which is now being made at Halol as well as Talegaon.