GM Ships India-Made Chevrolets to Latin America

General Motors Co. says it shipped its first batch of Chevrolet Beat small sedans from India to various markets in Latin America earlier this week.

The 1,200 vehicles were assembled at GM’s Talegaon in Pune. Last month GM announced it was shutting down production at its Halol plant in Gujarat, consolidating operations at the Talegaon facility and phasing out local sales of Chevrolet models at the end of 2017.

The plan reverses the strategy GM announced in mid-2015 to pump $1 billion into its Indian operations in a bid to double its market share there by 2020. GM also declared it would turn India into an export hub to Latin America.

But GM’s long-term plans in India remain unclear. Reports last month suggested the company might sell both its Indian factories to PSA Group and hire PSA to make GM models on a contract basis.

PSA said earlier this year it will return to the Indian market through a contract assembly deal with India’s CK Birla Group. In March the company agreed to buy GM's Adam Opel unit and said it hopes to build Opel sales volume outside Europe.