As soon as General Motors (NYSE: GM) installed Karl Slym as head of GM India, the new leader announced that the country may become the home to a new engine manufacturing facility for the automaker. The purpose: to build more engines for all those future sales that should be happening with the growing Indian middle class, and capture more vehicle builds made with in-country engines instead of imported GM engines from other global plants.

According to Slym, the automaker was looking at possible locations and investment amounts of a possible plant, which would assist GM with domestic (Indian) as well as export demand. Most of GM's products sold in India run on imported engines (except for the Tavera multi-utility vehicle), and with India continuing to grow as a marketplace for almost any imaginable consumer good, the time may be right for GM to lock down a site and get an engine plant built inside the country to service all those future sales needs.

Slym also indicated that he's considering evaluating richer nameplates like Buick and Cadillac (perhaps even Hummer) into India for sale. Right now, GM's India focus is not on higher-tier brands like those just mentioned. But, Slym said, "If there is a business case and a market to do so, then yes," in relation to bringing the brands to Indian consumers. Presently, GM's core holdings in India in terms of sales are in the smaller-car segment, similar to GM's focus in China.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) is now making vehicle engines in a new Chinese plant right next to a new miniature vehicle joint venture -- China's SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co. -- and the world's second-largest automaker says the new engine plant will have an annual capacity of 300,000 engines per year.

Is this a signal of GM's increasing interest in supplying Pacific Rim countries with smaller cars with very gas-efficient engines? You bet it is, and right off the bat the engines from the new plant will power a new minivan model (the Wuling Hong Tu) that will initially be sold in China, where a growing middle class is increasingly able to afford vehicles.

In fact, I would venture to guess that this three-way partnership, in which GM owns 34%, is a testing of the waters by the automaker in preparation of entering into the potentially huge market for Chinese consumer vehicle consumption. Sales in the U.S. grew for the automaker in its latest quarter, but future growth won't be from the North American market most likely. With the SAIC-GM-Wuling conglomerate having sold over 460,000 vehicles (classified as "mini-vehicles") in China last year, it's poised to exceed that annual figure by 25% or so this year. In 2008, the ceiling may be even higher.

It's quite a feat for a standard household or a small business to produce little to no waste each day, but that premise was taken home at the Baltimore, Md. transmission plant of General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM). The world's second-largest automaker said that its automotive transmission plant is now recycling and reusing all involved parts as a result of the manufacturing process as well as converting all energy produced by 'waste' products. This means the plant is not producing a single bit of waste that needs to be taken to a landfill. In fact, the plant now is not sending anything at all to any landfills anywhere.

The Baltimore plant makes 189,000 transmissions annually and was set to deposit more than 7,500 tons of waste to nearby landfills. Well, no more, according to GM. The plant is now being charged with manufacturing a dual-mode transmission in concert with BMW and DaimlerChrysler, which will be made available in its full size SUV vehicles later in 2007. These include the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban and GMC Yukon and Denali, among others.

It's a fascinating move from GM in that the plant that will be making a new type of transmission meant to be used with both electric-based propulsion as well as traditional gasoline engines will be producing no landfill waste. In my book, that's a huge 'green' score for GM in the race to produce more energy-efficient vehicles while not trashing the surrounding environment with waste products that are just as polluting. In other words, kudos to GM on this one.