New Delhi, March 2, 2005: General Motors India registered a 42 percent growth in February 2005 as compared to last year, while its YTD sales went up by over 75 per cent.

The global auto major sold 1859 cars in February as against 1309 cars in the same month last year to record a growth of 42.02% in monthly sales. Winner of Overdrive’s coveted "UV of the Year 2005" award, Chevrolet Tavera sold 1300 units in February to take its tally to 11,541 since its mid-2004 launch. The February sales included 350 units of Chevrolet Optra and 207 units of Opel Corsa.

Selling 4881 cars in January and February combined as compared to 2786 last year, the company recorded a 75.2 % growth in YTD sales, while Chevrolet Tavera, a new-generation premium multi-utility vehicle (MUV) had crossed the 10,000-car milestone in January within seven months of its launch.

Upbeat about the company’s performance, Mr. P. Balendran, Vice President- Corporate Affairs General Motors India said, “We are ramping up production capacity to 60,000 units at our Halol facility to meet the growing demand for our cars. Once commissioned later this month, we would be able to quickly clear the backlog of popular Chevrolet vehicles like Tavera and Optra. We are also working on several other programmes to make 2005 an eventful year for the company.”

Introduced in India in 2003, under the banner “For a Special Journey Called Life”, the Chevrolet brand was named "The Best Automotive Brand Of The Year 2004" by BS Motoring. Besides Tavera, two other Chevy products, Optra Luxury sedan and Forester SUV have between them cornered seven awards to date.

GM India is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors Corporation. Besides the Chevrolet Optra, GM India manufactures the Chevrolet Tavera, Opel Corsa, Opel Corsa Sail and Opel Swing at its facility in Halol, Gujarat. GM India also sells the imported Opel Vectra and Chevrolet Forester.