Mumbai:General Motors India is expanding the capacity ofits existing Halol plant in Gujarat from the current 85,000to about one lakh cars in a couple of years even as itis set to commission a new manufacturing plant at Talegaon,Pune, next year with an initial installed capacity of1.40 lakh cars per annum.

"Thecapacity of the Haalol plant near Vadodara, where thecompany has invested Rs1,400 crore so far, has been increasedrecently from 60,000 to 85,000 cars per annum. We willbe making around 66,000 cars this year but, in view ofincreased demand, we may increase the capacity to between90,000 and one lakh cars per annum," reports quotedP. Balendran, director and vice-president (corporate affairs),as saying.

Thecompany, he said, was also in talks with the Gujarat governmentto develop an automobile ancillary park near Halol. Itwas in the process of tying up with technical institutionsin Gujarat to ascertain the kind of synergy to be createdboth as a business opportunity and corporate social responsibility(CSR), he added.

Thecompany, which had started making profit from 2004 onwards,expects to increase its market share from the currentfour per cent to 10 per cent by 2010. These expansionplans are in view of the projected increase in the company'smarket share, he said.

Thecompany, which introduced five models of cars during thelast one year - the Aveo, SRV, Aveo U-Va, Optra Dieselluxury sedan and the Chevrolet Spark mini-car - plansto introduce at least two new models every year till 2010.

Thecompany which launched its Optra Diesel and Spark werelaunched in Ahmedabad on June 15, said sales target ofall seven GM's Chevrolet models across India has increasedfrom 35,000 to 66,000 this year. Of all models, U-Va hasproved most popular with a waiting list of two monthsfor customers who want to buy it, he added.