Hyundai Takes Over GM's Indian Plant

Hyundai completes the takeover of General Motors’ old Indian production plant while promising to invest 60 billion rupees ($721.73 million) into the factory’s home state.

The automaker’s Indian business unit now owns the facility at Talegaon Dabhade, in the western state of Maharashtra, where GM had been manufacturing vehicles for the domestic market in a joint venture with Hindustan Motors from 2006 to December 2020.

Reuters reports that Hyundai is India's second-largest carmaker by sales but would not say how much the factory acquisition cost or how much of the promised state investment would be directed toward the plant’s future production capabilities.

The deal for the plant, announced last March, boosts Hyundai's production capacity by about 200,000 extra units annually up from more than 800,000 currently. Operations are expected to start by the end of this year.

The automaker is committing to several major investments in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, where its present Indian plant is based. Hyundai signed a non-binding agreement earlier this month with the Tamil Nadu government to invest 61.8 billion rupees ($743.18 million) some of it earmarked for battery production for electric vehicles and car manufacturing.