GM India Shutdown - More rumours surface

Various speculations and rumours doing rounds on the internet have already indicated that General Motors might quit the Indian market in the near future. This decision will likely be a result of the company's dropping sales graph and rising operational losses. Now, more rumours have surfaced, which speculate that the shutdown might happen in the next 3-6 months, with an official announcement expected to be made in the near future.

The said rumours suggest that while General Motors will stop selling Chevrolet cars in India, it will still go ahead and launch the facelifted model of the Beat hatchback. The automaker is said to have already produced around 2,000 units of right-hand drive versions of the Beat facelift. The launch will thus take place to simply clear this inventory. Meanwhile, the automaker will continue to export the left-hand drive units of the Beat to international markets.

Senior officials from General Motors have arrived in India from Detroit and Singapore. These officials will soon have a meeting in Gurgaon, in which the fate of the employees will be decided. Rumours suggest that Chevrolet might continue to employ the service staff for the next 2 years in order to cater to all after sales needs of its existing customers. It is also being reported that the American carmaker is in talks with Mahindra for forging a service agreement where the latter will be responsible for providing service to GM vehicles during the next couple of years.

Meanwhile, the company officials will also decide whether or not the other employees will be retained for the next 3 to 6 months. GM officials will also be discussing the possible severance packages to the existing employees that are expected to be affected by the shutdown of its domestic operations.

GM has already stopped production at its Halol plant in Gujarat. The only working plant for the company is in Talegaon, Maharashtra, which is likely to continue to be used as an export facility.