In this photo taken Aug. 16, 2023, and provided by Hyundai Motor Co., Kim Un-soo (L), managing director and CEO of Hyundai Motor India Ltd., shakes hands with Asifhusen Khatri, vice president in charge of manufacturing at GM India, at Hyundai Motor India’s office building in Gurugram, in the northern Indian state of Haryana, after signing a deal to acquire GM’s Talegaon plant.
SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Motor Co. said Wednesday it has signed a deal to acquire General Motors Co.’s plant in India to strengthen its presence in the rapidly growing automobile market.
The acquisition of GM’s Talegaon plant in the western state of Maharash is aimed at preemptively preparing to meet a rising demand for electric vehicles in India, the world’s most populous country, Hyundai Motor said in a statement.
Hyundai Motor didn’t provide the value of the deal.
Hyundai will complete the acquisition process within this year after obtaining approval from the Indian government and satisfying other requirements for the takeover.
The carmaker plans to start production in the 130,000-unit-a-year Talegaon plant in 2025, with an aim to gradually expand the production volume by upgrading facilities, the statement said.
GM stopped selling cars in India in 2017. The Talegaon plant, established in 2008, has an annual production capacity of 130,000 units and 160,000 engines, with the production of export models continued at the plant till late 2020.
In 2022, India emerged as the world’s third-biggest automobile market with sales of 4.76 million vehicles after China with 23.3 million units and the United States’ 14.2 million units.
India’s passenger car market is expected to grow to over 5 million units in 2030 from the current 3.8 million units. One million vehicles to be sold in India in 2030 are widely expected to be electric models.
Hyundai made its entry into the Indian market in 1998, producing the Santro at its Indian plant in the southeastern coastal city of Chennai.
Hyundai has two plants in India with a combined output capacity of 760,000 units a year, and 150,000 units of them are being exported.
The maker of Sonata sedans and Santa Fe SUVs ranked second after Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. in terms of market share in India in 2022. Its sales rose 9.4 percent on-year to over 550,000 units last year.
(Yonhap)
