GM drives in Chevrolet Beat to take on small cars

[nisarnadaf]

Chevrolet Beat.

The mini car is priced aggressively under Rs 400,000 to take on Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor. The two are India's largest and second largest carmakers by volumes, respectively. Beat sports a 1,200 cc petrol engine with the base model priced at Rs 3.34 lakh and going up to Rs 3.94 lakh for the top variant (ex-showroom, New Delhi). Chevrolet Beat will take on contemporaries -- A-Star, Swift, Ritz, Santro, i10, Getz and i20 -- in a market where small cars constitute 78 per cent of the two million cars sold per year.

"The Beat will be our highest seller this year after Spark, which sold 45,000 units last year. We expect to easily breakthrough the 100,000 unit sales mark in 2010," president and managing director of GM India Karl Slym told a press conference.

Beat is the company's second car under GM's global 300 series platform after the Cruze sedan, which was introduced in September last year. GM India sold about 70,000 units in 2009, Slym said. It already sells two other small cars -- the Spark and the Aveo U-VA in the Indian market.

"A diesel version of Beat will be rolled out later this year," Slym said. The carmaker will also start exports of the hatchback to European and A s i a - Pa c i f i c markets by the end of the year, totaling retail in about 150 countries.

Beat is manufactured with 60 per cent local content, and within the first year Slym expects localisation to go up to 90 per cent.

"The Talegaon factory will go on a second shift this year with the introduction of the Beat," Slym said. The Talegaon factory has a capacity of producing 140,000 cars annually.

Other top global carmakers Toyota Motor, Volkswagen and Ford Motor are also set to storm in with their compact cars this year. The local car unit of Suzuki already sells six hatchbacks, holding almost two-third of the Indian car market.

[chaseabryant]

Don't get too excited about the looks... the production model (unfortunately) does not look as nice as the concept at all.

-Chase

[ne_one]

Yikes... a Chevrolet Spark specific to the Indian market is already available, so "Beat" was used as the moniker instead?

A wee bit confusing.

[che2on]

here is The New Television Ad released in India

The Beat Car by Chevrolet is making news everywhere
[YOUTUBE]

You Tube

You Tube

[/YOUTUBE]

http://www.chaaps.com/chevrolet-beat...year-2010.html

[Hitman1970]

Cool commercial. Love the tiger.

[scout62]

Cool video, i want a 3dr, what's with all the 5drs

[thainogkok]

The company also plans to launch a diesel variant of the car next year. Beat is sold in other markets as the new Spark. To make the car suitable for Indian conditions, the suspensions and powertrain of the Korean model have been changed. The car is pitted against the Maruti Swift, Ritz and Hyundai i10 in the market.

“We made a mistake with the pricing of Spark in the market. But Beat will be priced competitively and the price will speak for the product,” said Karl Slym, president, General Motors India. He added that GM’s Talegaon plant in Maharashtra will primarily cater to the production of Beat, while the currently produced Spark from the plant will be shifted to the company’s plant at Halol, Gujarat.

Further, Slym expects the company to touch the two-lakh unit mark by 2012 from 70,000 units this year. The company sees growth coming from its new launches, including the soon-to-be-launched Beat and the light commercial vehicles and passenger cars it plans to get from its Chinese JV, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC).

“GM has of late gone overboard with offers on its products. The company should now re-think its pricing strategy and let the buyer bargain for a good deal,” said an auto expert based in Chennai.

On the possibility of getting other GM brands to India, Slym said, “We plan to focus on the Chevrolet brand in the market. We have no time to think about other brands. However, the Cadillac brand has recognition in the Indian market.”

In November, the company sold 7,118 units against 4,307 units in the same period last year. The November 2009 sales comprise 4,202 units of Chevrolet Spark, 1,264 units of Chevrolet Tavera, 524 units of Aveo U-Va, 412 units of Aveo, 518 units of Chevrolet Cruze, 114 units of Chevrolet Optra and 84 units of Chevrolet Captiva.

via http://autoten.com

[Odin]

i am a tad suspicious of the ads "engine note" sound