India Focus on high performance automotive materials

FOR RELEASE: March 14, 2002

General Motors Establishes Collaborative Research Laboratory At Indian Institute Of Science

Focus on high performance automotive materials, robust manufacturing processes

BANGALORE, India- General Motors Corp. and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have created a collaborative laboratory here to research automotive structural materials and manufacturing processes, the world's No. 1 automaker and one of India's leading academic institutions announced today.

"GM's intent is to be the automotive industry leader in product innovation," said Dr. Alan I. Taub, Executive Director of Science at the GM Research & Development Center in Warren, Michigan. "Supplementing on-going work within General Motors in critical research areas by forming alliances with top academic institutions allows the exchange of technical knowledge to help accelerate the pace of innovation."

Taub said the materials research will focus primarily on lightweight materials, such as aluminum and magnesium, and the best methods for their fabrication. "This alliance has great potential to give GM a competitive advantage," he said. According to Taub, GM selected IISc because many of the faculty have research interests that are linked to the fundamental understanding of materials performance as influenced by composition and manufacturing, an area of great importance to GM.

"A major collaboration with such a forward-thinking company as General Motors will provide strong research opportunities for IISc's faculty members and students," said Prof. G. Mehta, Director of the Indian Institute of Science. He says that close interaction between scientists and researchers at GM and IISc will bring about scientific advances and technological progress.

The laboratory will develop math-based tools to understand the limits of material performance during fabrication and in the product, as influenced by the microstructure produced during manufacturing. "These math-based tools will speed up the development of new mass-efficient structural materials for automotive applications at low cost and lead to rapid process optimization," said Prof. Mehta.

The laboratory will be co-managed by Dr. Kathleen Taylor, Director of the GM Research and Development Center's Materials & Processes Laboratory and Prof. M. L. Munjal, Chairman of IISc's Division of Mechanical Sciences, where the laboratory will be located.

GM has committed $600,000 to the collaborative research at IISc for three years, but it could grow as promising new ideas are developed. As part of the collaboration, GM and IISc will exchange researchers through visits or sabbatical leaves.

Furthermore, with GM India's growing investment in the Indian auto industry, "establishment of the Lab is a clear manifestation of GM's commitment to the Indian market and region" said Mr. Aditya Vij, President & Managing Director of GM-India.

GM already has established similar laboratories in other fields at Brown University, The University of Michigan, Carnegie-Mellon University, Stanford University, and Jiaotong University in Shanghai, China.

General Motors , the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, designs, builds and markets cars and trucks worldwide. In 2001, GM earned $1.5 billion on sales of $177.3 billion, excluding special items. It employs about 362,000 people globally.

GM has been the world's automotive sales leader since 1931. In 2001, GM set industry sales records in the United States - its largest market - for total trucks and for sport utility vehicles. GM sold more than 1 million SUVs - a first for any automaker. GM also sold more full-size pickup trucks than any other manufacturer since 1978.

GM also operates one of the world's largest and most successful financial services companies, GMAC, which offers automotive, mortgage and business financing and insurance services to customers worldwide.

GM-India has its state-of-the-art facility in Gujarat and assembles its Opel models, the Astra, Corsa and Swing at its Halol facility.

More information on General Motors can be found at www.gm.com. For more information about IISc, go to www.iisc.ernet.in.