Hyundai zeroes in to acquire GM's facility in Talegaon to boost production

Hyundai Motor is one step closer to set up its third manufacturing facility in India. The Korean auto giant is inching closer to acquire the now-defunct Talegaon facility owned by US-based General Motors. India's second largest car manufacturer has recently signed a term sheet with General Motors India to acquire the facility which is located around 160 kms from Mumbai. This will be Hyundai's third facility in India, besides the two existing plants at at Irungattukottai and Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.

Hyundai Motor has signed a term sheet with General Motors which includes buying the land, building, certain equipments and machinery from the US auto giant as part of the deal. However, there is still one more step to be completed for Hyundai to fully acquire the facility. This includes signing of another agreement on asset purchase. After that, the carmaker will require nods from all stakeholders, including the concerned government, before it can start using it.

The Talegaon facility has been left defunct ever since General Motors decided to quit India business. GM stopped making cars in India in 2017 after a bad run in sales for more than a year. Among the two facilities it owned in India, the Talegaon facility was earlier expected to be acquired by Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motor. However, the Chinese carmaker's India business failed to take off and the acquisition failed last year. Besides Great Wall Motor, Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra were also in the fray to acquire the facility.

The Talegaon facility was set up back in 2008. Till the time the facility manufactured vehicles, it had a capacity of more than 1.30 lakh units every year. Hyundai is likely to use this facility as it plans to increase its EV presence in India as well as future models. Hyundai currently sells Kona Electric and Ioniq 5 electric vehicles in India.