India-US car makers: warming up to each other's markets

Mahindra & Mahindra aims to become the first company to sell an Indian-made truck in the U.S.  (factory pic-->).

Meanwhile, GM is doing boffo business in India:

Sparks fly and robotic machines buzz and hum. Assembly-line workers in coveralls, the sons of peanut and rice farmers, seal windshields and weld doors. They're making zippy little cars called Beat and Spark in the gleaming new General Motors plant here -- and they're making boatloads of money.

The iconic American carmaker went bankrupt last year, but its Indian operations have never been busier, evidence of India'sbooming economic growth and the rising prosperity of middle classes that are increasingly demanding first-world trappings in one of the fastest-rising countries.

"The new generation wants to hold the steering wheel in their hands," said Prabhjot Singh, manager of a driving school who said young Indians who used to go to him to learn how to drive scooters are now flooding in to learn how to drive cars.

GM builds for Indians in India.  Mahindra plans on doing the same as soon as possible.

I like GM's chances better.  America's truck market is stuffed, while there is only 10 cars per 1,000 Indians (America's numbers are more like 830-40).

But great to see the connectivity and ambition moving in both directions.