South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) has signed a purchase agreement on 16 August with General Motors India to acquire its land, buildings, certain machinery, and manufacturing equipment for an undisclosed amount.

The American firm General Motors India (GMI) Talegaon plant in Maharashtra has an annual production capacity of 130,000 units.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Managing Director and CEO Unsoo Kim said, “As we reinforce our commitment to ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, we intend to create an advanced manufacturing centre for Made-in-India cars in Talegaon, Maharashtra. Our manufacturing operations are scheduled to begin in Talegaon, Maharashtra, in 2025.”

Earlier this year, HMIL entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to invest Rs 20,000 crore in Tamil Nadu to expand capacity and establish an electric vehicle ecosystem.

Hyundai Motors India has already amped up its production at the Sriperumbudur plant in Tamil Nadu from 750,000 units to 820,000 units in the first half of this calendar year. The incorporation of the GMI plant will ramp up the production capacity to around 1 million units per year.

Prior to this, GMI had signed a deal with Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motors in January 2020 for its Talegaon plant; however, the agreement fell through as the Chinese carmaker did not receive approvals from the Indian government within the stipulated time.

HMIL said it would review plans to launch additional electric vehicle models into the Indian market manufactured at its Sriperumbudur plant.

Completing the acquisition and assignment of the Talegaon plant is subject to the fulfilment of certain regulatory approvals from government authorities and stakeholders.