GM India posts 276 per cent sales growth in September

agencyfaqs! News Bureau

NEW DELHI, October 3

Riding high on the success of Opel Corsa and the all-new Astra, General Motors India (GMI) has recorded an all-time high in sales in September 2000. While crossing the 1,100 mark, the company posted a whopping 276 per cent increase in sales for September 2000 compared with 309 units during the same time last year. This also represented a 12 per cent growth over its sales in August this year, which stood at 1,038 units.

Of the total of 1,163 units the company sold in September 2000, there were 748 units of Corsa and 415 units of Astra. This is the fourth month of sustained growth for Astra, that too in a declining segment.

Talking about the big leap in its volumes, Rajeev Chaba, vice-president (marketing), GMI, said, "This is a clear manifestation of people's confidence in German engineering and longevity of its products. In the case of Astra, the new engine, the improved air-conditioning system and the fresh look have caught the fancy of the consumer. Further, the newly launched Corsa 1.6 GSi and improved availability of 1.4 variants have propelled the growth of Corsa sales. The new variant 1.6 Gsi has been accepted as ‘the best value for money' variant in this category," said Chaba.

The company brass believes that the surge in demand for the new Astra and Corsa variants can be also attributed to the encouraging response it has received recently from the "automobile experts in top auto magazines on the count of product attributes".

Both the new Astra and Opel Corsa have been termed as "a complete car by experts who have extensively test driven the car over the harshest of terrain and varying city traffic conditions," said company sources.

GMI is a fully-owned subsidiary of General Motors Corporation of USA and produces the German engineered Opel Models - the Astra and Corsa - from its state-of-the art facility at Halol in Gujarat.

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