For the first time in more than a decade, an automotive production plant was shut down in India on Friday because of a shift in focus to another state and the company’s failure to strike a deal for a sale of the plant.

General Motors, one of the earliest foreign automotive multinationals to enter India, has pulled the plug on its Halol-based Gujarat plant as the last of the multi-utility vehicle Chevrolet Tavera rolled out of the production line on Friday.

Sources say that the Halol shutdown is part of the plan for a complete pullout from India by GM. However, for the record, the company last month also signed a three-year wage agreement with 2,500 workers of the Talegaon plant, its only other facility in India.

Having been in operation for more than a decade, the closure of GM’s Halol plant is a testimony to the US company’s unending struggle to get its act together in the fast growing but fiercely competitive Indian market. The shutdown coincides with the announcement of GM’s (global) first quarter result due on Friday.

It is the first time in more than 12 years that an automotive plant is being shut down in India. The last such closure was in the mid 2000s when Italian company Fiat shut its Kurla plant in suburban Mumbai. It was preceded only by a similar closure of operations by Daewoo in the early 2000s.

GM India President and Managing Director Kaher Kazem said all GM manufacturing in India will now be at the company’s Talegaon facility in Maharashtra.

“The consolidation of manufacturing at our Talegaon facility is an important milestone for GM India. That said, we are mindful of the impact on our employees at Halol. We have committed to support them through this necessary transition with generous separation payments or the option of continuity of employment at Talegaon”, said Kazem

The plant, with a capacity of 110,000 units a year, produced the Tavera, Enjoy and Cruze models. While some workers were moved to Talegaon, more than 500 workers have been staging a silent protest since the past month at the Halol plant demanding job security.

General Motors had initially moved to shut down the factory last year itself but later decided to stretch the final date to end of last month after the intervention of the Gujarat government.

Kazem said a range of additional support measures had been put in place for employees who opted for the significantly enhanced separation payments and those who will transfer, including tax and financial advice and pre-transfer visits to Talegaon.

Chinese auto maker SAIC, who is bringing the MG brand to India, also evinced interest in buying the General Motors plant outright. The factory workers demanded that besides the factory assets, the employees be absorbed by the new company too.

GM opened the Halol plant in 1996 starting with products made under the German brand Opel. While Opel was pushed out of the country little more than a decade later following muted response from the market, GM brought a new brand Chevrolet, which has been very successful in the US.

The Halol plant closure comes at a time when India posted sales growth of 9 percent last year, making it one of the fastest growing automotive markets in the world. The country clocked 3.04 million units in passenger vehicle sales, according to data supplied by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. GM’s market share as of last month stood at 0.84 percent.

Industry experts say GM’s India debacle is owing to lack of focus by its headquarters in the US, even as the world’s third largest automotive company put its might behind the Chinese venture where it is among the top three makers.