Company says it will cooperate with government on probe.
By R. Chandrasekaran
CHENNAI: The biggest automobile company from the U.S., General Motors, has shown the exit door to several employees who were involved in the recent recall of about 114K units of Tavera model cars in India either directly or indirectly.
The company’s latest moves come following an internal probe finding fault with the employees over the failure to adhere to the company’s policy. The company’s U.S. office issued a statement stating, “We take these matters very seriously and hold our leaders and employees to high standards.” It added, “When those standards are not met, we will take the appropriate action to hold employees accountable.”
While GM failed to provide the names of fired executives, reports indicate that 10 employees of powertrain in the U.S. and India and the global engine engineering’s vice president Sam Winegarden were shown the door.
The second largest auto maker in the world said that it has taken action to deal with issues relating to regulatory specifications and emissions standards. There was a report that the Indian unit told the Indian government that its engineers have influenced emissions tests to meet the norms of the government standards.
However, GM India’s president and Managing Director Lowell Paddock has reportedly denied any collusion with testing agencies in violation of the norms prescribed by the government. He also indicated the company’s readiness to cooperate with the government in its investigation of recall of cars.
GM’s action was prompted by the Indian government’s decision to probe into recall of 114,000 Tavera cars manufactured from 2005 to 2013, especially the testing methodology adopted by the company.
This was the first time that General Motors is recalling its product in India, since its inception in 1995. The company told Indian government officials about emissions and some specifications problems. However, the company clarified that the issues are certainly not safety-related one.
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