MUMBAI: Chinese vehicle maker Great Wall Motors Co. Ltd (GWM) has committed investment of $1 billion or about ₹7,600 crore for its India business, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. The carmaker has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government for investments.
GMW said it would invest up to $1 billion in a phased manner in acquiring and upgrading the Talegaon facility of American carmaker General Motors' (GM).
The Chinese company had in January announced that it will acquire American carmaker GM's Talegaon manufacturing unit near Pune for an undisclosed sum.
“The plant will be equipped with the latest world-class technology and along with the research and development (R&D) center in Bengaluru will generate employment for over 3000 people in phased manner,” the maker of sports utility vehicles under Haval brand said in a statement.
In a virtual ceremony, the MoU was signed by James Yang, president, GWM India, Parker Shi, managing director at the company and Subhash Desai, Maharashtra industries minister. Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray and Sun Weidong, Chinese Ambassador to India were also present at the event.
“This would be a highly automated plant in Talegaon with advanced robotics technology integrated in many of the production processes,” said Shi adding that the investment would be directed towards producing world-class cars and building supply chain along with providing jobs.
Acquisition of GM’s 300-acre Talegaon plant offers several benefits to the Chinese carmaker such as presence of an established supply chain belt, availability of skilled manpower and infrastructure, proximity to the Mumbai port and high-speed expressway among others.
hen the Talegaon unit was operational under GM, it had an installed annual capacity to produce 165,000 vehicles and make 160,000 engines.
