In what could turn into a major scandal for General Motors (GM), North America’s largest carmarker has fired and transferred around 20 officials, including five members of the senior management involved with its Indian subsidiary, multiple industry sources told FE.
The move comes after the car maker discovered several malpractices related to procurement of emissions certifications for the Tavera MPV model produced at its plant in India, prompting it to recall 1.14 lakh units (2005-2013 model years) on Wednesday.
The road transport ministry has also formed a panel, headed by Nitin Gokarn, CEO of the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project, to probe into the matter and decide if any penal action should be taken against the company .
Among the five top GM officials fired and transferred, one is an ex-CFO, while another headed GM’s technical centre based in Bangalore. ?An internal audit by GM found that the emissions criteria, that the vehicles complied with, were lower than those originally certified by the government’s testing agency (ARAI, Pune).The company first stopped production and then fixed responsibility,? an industry source in the know said.
When contacted, P Balendran, vice president at GM India said, ?We do not comment on an internal personnel matter?.
Industry sources said that involvement of government officials in the manipulation cannot be rules out, and this is one of the things that the panel set up by the Road Transport Ministry will explore.
GM had stopped production and sale of the Tavera BS3 on June 4 and the Tavera BS4 on July 2, after discovering problems related to emissions standards in an internal check. It had additionally stopped production of diesel variants of the Sail sedan and Sail U-Va hatchback at the same time due to problems with the engine. Sales of these models are expected to now re-start by August, after acquiring regulatory approvals.
GM’s volumes were up 9.09% at 23,267 units in April-June this year, though in FY13 its sales had dipped 20% at 88,150 units.
