GM 'Spark' price war, eyes India as global hub

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Wagoner, who was present at the launch of Spark, hinted that his company is looking to source auto components worth billions of dollars annually from India in the next 4-5 years.

"We are focusing on leveraging our supply base to suit our local needs," Wagoner said, explaining that the company, which was currently shutting down plants in North America, was focusing more on fully leveraging the emerging high-quality, low cost supply base in India for its future strategy.

"Our supply base has been expanding. In future, you could see exports out of India...we would probably need extra capacity and India would be a candidate," he said.

Wagoner predicted that over the next ten years, emerging markets within the Asia Pacific region alone are expected to account for nearly 70 percent of global sales growth. He said that three of the top five fastest growing auto markets over the next decade are going to be in Asia Pacific, including India.

According to Wagoner, India will be the second largest growing auto market in ten years and "the growth will be driven by overall economic growth."

"This is not just because of low wages but also because of the Indian attitude that abhors waste," he said, adding that rising disposable income and a rapidly expanding middle class would propel the growth.

According to automobile experts, the Spark is likely to impact the sales of Maruti Suzuki, the market leader, and Hyundai Motor.

Spark has been positioned to compete with Maruti Suzuki's Zen Estilo and Hyundai's popular hatchback Santro.

While Spark would be Rs. 12,000 cheaper than the Zen, it would come at a premium of Rs. 39,000 over the base model of Santro, which is being sold at Rs. 2.7 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

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