GM READY TO DEVELOP AN INDIAN ELECTRICAL CAR

US carmaker General Motors (GM) has said it is to develop a small cheap electric car for India.

The carmaker will develop the model in partnership with India's Reva Electric Car Company, and said it expected production to begin next year.

Reva's electric cars are sold in the UK as under the G-Wiz brand.

Karl Slym, president of GM's India unit, said the companies would work with the Indian government to build a network of charging stations.

Reva, based in Bangalore, sold its first electric car in India in 2001.

The announcement comes a day after US rival Ford announced that it was to make a new car, the Ford Figo, in India as part of its $500m (£304m) investment plan in the country.

Both cars will compete in India's small car segment, which makes up about 70% of the new vehicle market.

Message and picture from BBC

It is fantastic idea whith just one small drawback: who will deliver the electricity to the network of charching stations. To develop an electrical car for a country with a notorious shortage of power, with daily power cuts over hours and load sharing in the big cities, you have to be a very optimistic person or the market study was done by someone who never visited India for a single day.