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General Motors to launch Vectra in India

General Motors Corporation or GM is all set to introduce its luxury saloon Opel Vectra in India priced in the range of Rs 1.4-1.6 million.

The company has already booked two orders for the Vectra and targets to sell around 100 units of the car in India in the 2000 calendar year, senior company officials said.

''We have already booked two orders and two more could be finalised by the end of this month. The cars would be imported into India as completely built units or CBUs and sold here,'' the officials said.

The Vectra, the officials added, are available in three variants and will be priced in the Indian market between Rs 1.4 million and Rs 1.6 million, depending on the model. The first Vectra is scheduled to arrive in India within a few weeks. A 1.8-litre direct injection gasoline engine powers the car.

The company is targetting embassies, importers, exporters and large corporations with licenses to import vehicles with the Opel Vectra. The sales are being effected through direct contact programmes through General Motors India Limited or GMIL dealers.

''The dealers help the customers import these vehicles directly from GM, US. These dealers would also take care of the after-sales service and spares back-up for these models,'' the officials added.

GM has already selected a few dealers in metros and markets like Surat, Ahmedabad and Kerala for promoting Vectra in India.

Depending on the success of Vectra, GM intends to launch Opel Zafira in India and later follow it up with other models, including the Omega.

GM had recently introduced the new Opel Vectra, which incorporates over 3,000 changes. It includes features like the orthopaedically-designed lumbar support seats, electronic climate control and new ten-year anti-corrosion guarantee. The Vectra is available in three versions -- four-door saloon, 5-door and caravan.

Meanwhile, General Motors India Limited is driving into the semi-urban markets on its ''showroom on wheels'', displaying the new Opel 2000 and the Opel Corsa.

The mobile showroom 'Opel Caravan', flagged off from Ahmedabad, will visit over 50 high potential semi-urban locations across the country over a period of six months.

The caravan would be covering key semi-urban centres like Bharuch, Rajkot, Jalandhar, Pathankot, Amritsar, Vijayawada, Trichy, Kottayam, Erode, Trichur, Hubli, Mysore, Kanpur, Allahabad, Bhopal, Kolhapur and others ''to address the mainstream segment and target untapped potential at these locations.''

The mobile showroom, the officials said, is a step towards reaching out to potential customers in places other than the dealer city locations. ''We intend to organise such innovative concepts and programmes at regular intervals to create further interest and excitement around our cars.''

The caravan is built on a 40-foot trailer that serves as a mobile hoarding while in transit and as a mobile showroom at the location. The new Astra 2000 and Corsa are displayed with a 3-dimensional hydraulic opening system.

GMIL aims to increase its reach by the caravan and various promotional schemes have been designed keeping the local flavour in mind. GMIL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors Corporation of the United States and has a production facility at Halol in Gujarat.

UNI

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