General Motors begins vehicle exports from India

General Motors India on Monday said it has begun vehicle exports from India, with a first shipment to Chile.

The company shipped the first lot of 140 units of its hatchback Chevrolet 'Beat' from the Mumbai port to Chile last Thursday, a press release said in Mumbai.

Beat was launched in the Indian market in 2010. The vehicle is produced at the company's Talegaon facility in Maharashtra. The plant has an annual production capacity of 1,70,000 vehicles and 1,60,000 engines.

The first 140 left-hand-drive Beats were shipped from the Mumbai Port on September 25 and it is expected to reach Chile in the next few weeks, the company said.

"The first shipment of Chevrolet Beats demonstrates our commitment to make our India-built products available in global markets," GM India President and Managing Director Arvind Saxena said.

GM India will continue to ship models to Chile on a monthly basis, he said.

"We expect to identify additional export markets going forward. This will help drive capacity utilisation at our Talegaon plant," Saxena said.

The compact car Beat is already manufactured and sold in many markets across the world.

Available in both petrol and diesel versions, Beat is GM India's best-selling model.

As part of GM CEO Mary Barra's recent trip to India, she participated in the roll out of the first Beat for export on September 10.

The Chevrolet portfolio in India includes the Spark, Beat, Chevrolet SAIL, SAIL Hatchback, Cruze, Tavera, Chevrolet Enjoy and Captiva.