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Our Bureau

Bangalore , Feb. 1

CAR manufacturers are reworking their production plans to make use of the opportunity provided by the phasing out of the multi-purpose Qualis.

During 2004, Qualis sold a total of 36,700 units and with the MPV segment growing, major players such as General Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra are gearing up to grab the space exited by Qualis.

General Motors Vice-President for corporate affairs, Mr P. Balendran told Business Line that if the demand picks up, the company might escalate the number of shifts to three from two which means the production could go up to even 80,000 from 60,000 units.

"In January, we cleared all the backlog orders for Tavera. We expect to sell about 22,000 units of Tavera in 2005," Mr Balendran said.

But the numbers could be revised upwards soon when the demand picks up.

General Motors invested about Rs 80 crore during the last three months to increase capacity. The total investment in the Indian operations currently stands at about Rs 1,380 crore.

Mr Balendran said if the capacity needs to be increased again, the investment would be met through internal accruals.

According to sources, even Mahindra & Mahindra is eyeing the huge gap left by Qualis. Last year sales saw M&M's multi-purpose vehicle Scorpio selling over 26,000 units while Tata Motors' Sumo sold over 30,000 units.

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