According to company sources, GMI is planning to launch another car "Opel Zafira", a multi-purpose mini-van. Company officials said GMI was looking at the possibility of making this car in India.

However, industry analysts said the new auto policy and the post-quantitative restrictions environment will play a vital role in finalising the future introductions of new models by the company.

The company is presently selling its luxury saloon Opel Vectra to customers having import licences. The cars are imported into India as completely-built-units (CBU) and sold here. The target customers of this car are embassies, importers, exporters and large corporations.

GMI produces several variants of the German-engineered Opel Astra and the Opel Corsa at its plant located at Halol near Baroda in Gujarat.

GMI has already introduced a Net-based initiatives aimed at increasing the sales volume. The company is also planning to launch a new website which will be more informative of the models and prices of the Indian version.The company has sold 4,078 Opel Corsa in the last nine months after its introduction and 3,047 Opel Astra by the end of 2000. The new price range for four Corsa models and three Astra models are in the range of Rs 6.31-7.54 lakh and Rs 8.10-10.35 lakh.

The target of the company for this calendar year is 10,700 units in the overall segment with 3,000 units of Opel Astra and 7,700 units of Opel Corsa against 7,000 cars last year. The present marketshare of Opel Astra is around 12 per cent and that of Opel Corsa is around 8 per cent. The company expects to achieve a marketshare of 15 per cent by the full year of operation.

According to the GMI president and managing director Aditya Vij: "We are looking forward to the auto policy and then we are going to come up with new models. Though the automobile industry is passing through a recessionary phase, still we have retained our performance in the market. All car manufacturers have revised prices in January. We have also revised the prices between 1-2 per cent depending upon the model, but subsequently we have done a lot of value-addition to those brands."

Mr Vij said the company was also expanding the dealer network with a stress on stressing the semi-urban areas. The company has expanded its network to 34 dealerships and 23 authorised service outlets (ASOs) across the country. The company will put in place 44 dealers and an equal number of ASOs before the close of this financial year and expects to hike sales by 10 per cent to 12 per cent, Mr Vij said.

GMI has introduced the new improvised versions of Astra & Corsa - Corsa Royale and the New Astra Club 2001. These models would now be the benchmark in their respective segments for the top of the line features. The Corsa Royale is also equipped with exquisite interiors and root wood dashboard panels in addition to spoilers, alloy wheels, leather stearing and an optional sun-roof.

The highly successful Astra Club which is a symbol of prestige and style has come up with a path breaking feature called "Multi Intelligence Digital Display (MID)".

Mr Vij said GMI had adopted a "straddle pricing" strategy to combat competition through efficient benchmarking to enhance appeal for all its variants of Astra and Corsa. Owing to substantial localisation (over 60 to 70 per cent), the company has succeeded in considerably reducing the prices (25 to 35 per cent) of frequently used-spare parts.