Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, laid the foundation stone for General Motors' greenfield passenger car project at Talegaon, on 21 November 2006. Construction work is expected to begin soon.

The $300 million (Rs.1,300 crore) project for which an MoU was signed with the Maharashtra government on 3 August 2006 is coming up on a 120 ha (300 acres) plot.

The plant will manufacture the "Chevrolet Spark", a small 1,000 cc car and will begin production by the third quarter of 2008. Its final capacity will stand at 1,40,000 cars per year, with the initial level being 45,000 cars per year.

Meanwhile, the "Spark" will be launched in the first half of 2007 with production coming from GM's Halol plant in Gujarat, currently General Motor's only manufacturing unit in India.

The Halol plant capacity is being expanded to 85,000 cars per year from the present 65,000 cars per year. By end-2008, the combined capacity of GM in India will be 2,25,000 cars per year, out of which the Talegaon plant will account for over 60 per cent.

Also See:

GM signs MoU for automobile plant in Maharashtra (04-Aug-06)

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