Hyundai India is set to buy the car manufacturing facility in Talegaon, Maharashtra abandoned by General Motors (GM). The Korean major signed an asset purchase agreement for the plant at Hyundai India's headquarters, Gurugram on Wednesday.
The agreement was signed between Unsoo Kim, MD and CEO of Hyundai India and Asifhusen Khatri, vice president (Manufacturing) of GM India.
"This year is a significant milestone for Hyundai as we celebrate 27 years in India," said Kim, adding, "As we reinforce our commitment to Atmanirbhar Bharat, we intend to make Talegaon an advanced centre for 'Made in India' cars."
Kim also said that cars will start rolling out of the plant 2025 onwards. Talegaon lies on the outskirts of Pune.
Hyundai, the second biggest car maker in the country after Maruti Suzuki has its primary manufacturing plant in Sriperumbudur, on the outskirts of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. In fact, the company had just announced a 20,000 crore rupee additional investment in Tamil Nadu that will focus on electric cars. Once Talegaon also starts operating, the company aims to produce 10 lakh cars per year.
The Talegaon plant was lying unused since GM decided to stop operations in the country a few years ago. In 2020, it was all set to be snapped up by China's Great Wall Motors as it made big plans to enter the Indian market. However, the outbreak of hostilities in Ladakh and the subsequent cooling of India's business rapport with China meant the deal never went through.
