New Delhi, July 01, 2005: General Motors India sales registered a growth of over 42 percent in first half of 2005 as compared to same period last year.

Selling 15297 cars between January and June 2005 as compared to 10737 in the first six months last year, the company recorded a 42.5% growth in YTD sales. These included 9703 units of Tavera, 3638 Optra, 1932 Corsa and 24 Foresters.

General Motors India sold 2183 cars in June’05 as against 2418 cars in the same month last year as unprecedented rains and floods in Baroda disrupted production and dispatches in the month end. Its sales for the month included 1461 Taveras, 404 Chevrolet Optra, 315 Opel Corsas and 3 units of imported Forester SUV. Said Amit Dutta, Vice President – Marketing, Sales & Aftersales, General Motors India, “We lost sales of around 300 units as rains and floods hit our production and dispatches towards the month end.”

The GM Service Plus programme piloted in NCR from end May has been a resounding success with customers. As part of this programme, dealer workshops are open 24x7 to service cars. In addition the innovation of a 3 hour quick service which guarantees refund of service charges to customers in case the time limit is exceeded has been a big hit. Over 500 customers have availed of this service and a random survey of this lot indicates that they have rated this innovation as excellent.

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.