General Motors (GM) India will commence commercial production of diesel powertrain at its plant at Talegaon near Pune. The engine will be rolled out in the fourth quarter of this financial year.

Karl Slym, president and managing director, GM India said "This diesel engine has been specially designed for the Chevrolet Beat. These engines are in the 1.5 litre range and will be both in petrol and diesel variants. We will begin with diesel and follow it up with petrol engines in a week."

In phase I the plant has a capacity is 160,000 units per annum and that will be increased to 3,00,000 engines. The plant GM's "first flexi plant" as it will produce both petrol and diesel engines. The company is also considering exporting these engines.

The tests for 1.2 litre petrol engine are completed on its newly launched Chevrolet Beat mini car last December. GM's "compact car" is to come out in 2012 while electric Spark is to hit the market by October 2010.

In another development, GM entered into an agreement with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) to enter the light commercial vehicles (LCV) segment. Slym indicated that the company has planned to launch three LCVs with one tonne capacity in 2011 under a new brand.

GM's Halol plant will produce LCVs while Pune plant will make passenger cars. GM has invested to modify both the plants. GM SAIC will also launch an 800cc car and an entry-level, mid-size sedan with Wuling, its local Chinese partner.

"We will be exporting to Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka this year and 20 per cent of the volume will be exported to European and Asia Pacific countries next year," he added.