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India Panel to Monitor Recall of GM’s Tavera SUV - Wall Street Journal - WSJ.com
NEW DELHI—An Indian government panel will monitor the recall and repair of 114,000 Chevrolet Tavera sport-utility vehicles by the local unit of General Motors Co., the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said.
Also, special teams would be formed to conduct investigations and take action if needed against General Motors India Pvt. Ltd., the ministry said. The panel will be headed by Ambuj Sharma, additional secretary in the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
The decision was taken at a meeting earlier this week to discuss alleged violations of emissions-testing rules by GM India for the Tavera SUV, the ministry said late Wednesday.
GM in July announced that it was recalling the Tavera manufactured over the past eight years and suspending production of the diesel-engine vehicle after discovering that the vehicles didn’t meet India’s emissions standards. The Tavera costs between $11,760 and $17,753, and is one of GM’s top-selling models in India.
A three-member panel set up by the industries ministry alleged in its report last month that GM India falsified emissions tests and misled government inspectors during prearranged inspections of Tavera vehicles at its factories, an official in the ministry told The Wall Street Journal in October.
The report was sent to the road transport and highways ministry, which sets emissions standards. The road transport and highways ministry would decide on any potential penalties on GM India.
A total of 15 employees at GM have either been fired or submitted their resignations after the vehicle recall was announced, GM India Vice President P. Balendran said in October. “We determined there was an emissions problem. We investigated it and identified violations of company policy,” Mr. Balendran said at that time.
Mr. Balendran didn’t respond to calls on Thursday.
The special teams to conduct investigations would be formed by the state governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra where GM has its factories. The teams, comprising technical and legal experts, would “initiate action as soon as possible, preferably within three months,” according to the ministry.
The Gujarat and Maharashtra governments would also be requested that the investigations are monitored by their chief secretaries, or at least the home secretaries. The chief secretary is top-ranked bureaucrat of any state in India.
The three-member panel set by the industries ministry had recommended additional investigations by government agencies into the vehicle-recall issue because it said it had been unable to arrive at any specific conclusion in its report, according to the new release.
The recall by GM is one of India’s biggest vehicle recalls ever and following the move, the government had said it was working on a mandatory vehicle-recall policy.
A voluntary recall system set up by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, an industry body, has been in force since July 2012. More than 580,000 vehicles have been recalled since then. The recall by GM is the first for emission-related issues.
NEW DELHI—An Indian government panel will monitor the recall and repair of 114,000 Chevrolet Tavera sport-utility vehicles by the local unit of General Motors Co., the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said.
Also, special teams would be formed to conduct investigations and take action if needed against General Motors India Pvt. Ltd., the ministry said. The panel will be headed by Ambuj Sharma, additional secretary in the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
The decision was taken at a meeting earlier this week to discuss alleged violations of emissions-testing rules by GM India for the Tavera SUV, the ministry said late Wednesday.
GM in July announced that it was recalling the Tavera manufactured over the past eight years and suspending production of the diesel-engine vehicle after discovering that the vehicles didn’t meet India’s emissions standards. The Tavera costs between $11,760 and $17,753, and is one of GM’s top-selling models in India.
A three-member panel set up by the industries ministry alleged in its report last month that GM India falsified emissions tests and misled government inspectors during prearranged inspections of Tavera vehicles at its factories, an official in the ministry told The Wall Street Journal in October.
The report was sent to the road transport and highways ministry, which sets emissions standards. The road transport and highways ministry would decide on any potential penalties on GM India.
A total of 15 employees at GM have either been fired or submitted their resignations after the vehicle recall was announced, GM India Vice President P. Balendran said in October. “We determined there was an emissions problem. We investigated it and identified violations of company policy,” Mr. Balendran said at that time.
Mr. Balendran didn’t respond to calls on Thursday.
The special teams to conduct investigations would be formed by the state governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra where GM has its factories. The teams, comprising technical and legal experts, would “initiate action as soon as possible, preferably within three months,” according to the ministry.
The Gujarat and Maharashtra governments would also be requested that the investigations are monitored by their chief secretaries, or at least the home secretaries. The chief secretary is top-ranked bureaucrat of any state in India.
The three-member panel set by the industries ministry had recommended additional investigations by government agencies into the vehicle-recall issue because it said it had been unable to arrive at any specific conclusion in its report, according to the new release.
The recall by GM is one of India’s biggest vehicle recalls ever and following the move, the government had said it was working on a mandatory vehicle-recall policy.
A voluntary recall system set up by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, an industry body, has been in force since July 2012. More than 580,000 vehicles have been recalled since then. The recall by GM is the first for emission-related issues.
