Just when we thought that the Tata Nano segment was going to heat up with the entry of some international brands developing their own Ultra Low Cost Car (ULCs), some disappointing news has come our way. Two major brands that were thought to bring their ULCs at the 2012 Auto Expo in Delhi have decided not to enter the fray and focus on higher segments.
French carmaker Renault, in collaboration with Bajaj auto, is working on an ULC which was also displayed in its prototype stage at the Delhi Auto Expo 2008. However, the company has officially gone on the wires and said that it is unlikely to bring the car to the market in 2012 and the energy was on shifting 5 products starting with the Fluence to the market.
GM India was expected bring a 800 cc car in collaboration with Chinese partner SAIC but through research (and reading the newspapers) GM India realized that the project will not make economic sense.
GM would now stick to the standard Spark with 1,000 cc engine as their entry level model. All their future models will be above Spark while a 800cc Spark still stays as a realistic possibility in the next two years.
For now the only thing that the Tata Nano has to worry about is its slipping sales. With diesel, LPG and better furnished variants, it can hope to eat into the Alto’s market share. The question is when will the upgraded variants hit the market.
Chevrolet India has bagged won three top awards in the India Automotive Initial Quality Study (IQS) and Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) 2010 from one of the most prestigious automotive survey company – J D Power.
On the occasion, Chevrolet, P Balendran, Vice-President, General Motors India said
“These prestigious wins from J D Power clearly reiterate that Chevrolet has become the preferred automobile brand in terms of quality, dependability and customer delight. We will continue to leverage the momentum gained thus far and build on the inherent strengths of our products in the future also.”
Chevy Spark took home the awards for the Most Dependable Compact Car and the Best Compact Car in Initial Quality. This is the fourth time the Spark has won award for quality. On the other hand, Chevrolet Aveo U-VA wrapped the awards for the Most Dependable Car in the Premium Compact Car segment.
Christmas means Santa Claus. And Santa Claus means gifts.
If you live in Britain and a new Chevrolet Beat is the best present for your loved one, then you don’t want to miss out on this.
Chevrolet UK is offering complimentary gift wrapping on the Beat (known as Spark in UK). Chevrolet claims the gift wrapped Spark makes “the opening ritual a bit more fun.”
The offer is running as we speak and available to people who book their cars till the 21st of December (today). A group of expert gift wrappers will then take over and use as many as ninety nine rolls of adhesive tape and forty six square meters of festive wrapping paper to prepare it for the “tadaa” moment.
We wonder how many rolls of adhesive tape Chevrolet needs if this offer was available on the Chevrolet Captiva. One could buy a new Spark with that money!
We always complain that most cars come in India years after their global launch. Well that trend is changing gradually and more and more companies are trying to get their products in the Indian Market first, especially compact cars.
Companies like the General Motors which showcased the Beat in the transformer movie and then immediately launched it in the Indian market. And sure, they have been rewarded as well; The Chevrolet Beat is currently doing reasonable volumes in the India and is expecting strong future growth with the arrival of the diesel engine.
The Chinese sadly couldn’t say so – well at least till now. Chevy didn’t introduce the Beat in the Chinese market as the Spark was still a capable small car fulfilling their requirements. But with competition making moves, finally the day has arrived and the Beat is all set roll on the streets of China. For that, it has also been given a Chinese name – (Si Pa Ke), a phonetic translation of its English name Spark (note the Beat is sold overseas as Chevrolet Spark).
What about the good old Spark you ask? We think that the Wuling brand will absorb that car under its umbrella.
Just like the Chinese fire crackers that have flooded the Indian market, GM plans to flood the auto market with Chinese cars with the help of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC). These will consist of hatchbacks, sedans, multi-utility vehicles and passenger vans and even mini trucks!
GM India’s Vice-President (Marketing, Sales and After Sales) Sumit Sawhney -
We have some aggressive plans for the lined-up models. We aim to launch at least six new vehicles with multiple fuel options over the next 24 months.
When he says multiple fuel options, he means Petrol, Diesel, LPG, CNG and even a fully electric car.
So here is list of probable cars that we can expect:
click through to read the entire list of models
No! This is not another case of a small hatchback catching fire! This is just a ‘fiery’ paint job on the Chevrolet Beat created by a Portuguese school kid, Jose Rocha, a participant in the 2010 Young Creative Chevrolet (YCC) Contest. This contest was organized to recognize young talents in school.
Participants had to redesign the exterior of Chevrolet Beat in the best way possible to exhibit the cheeky, sporty nature of the Chevrolet Beat. This ‘Sparkling’ Beat was chosen by the jury as the best representation of the Chevrolet Beat.
To honor the young boy, Chevrolet would release its World Tour Car Championship (WTCC) version of the Beat in this paint job. The WTCC Beat/Spark comes with a 1.4 liter turbocharged engine that produces a mammoth 140 bhp.
Would GM India at least bring limited editions of this ‘Sparkling’ Chevrolet Beat like it did with the Denim Chevrolet Levi’s Beat?
Chevrolet has built a special edition of its new Spark (Beat) to be used as a pace car during World Touring Car Championship races this year.
The WTCC Spark comes with a 1.4-liter petrol engine which is turbocharged producing 140 horsepower! The addition of just 200cc and a turbo enables the Spark pace car to give 60hp more than the Indian spec Beat.
The turbocharged WTCC Chevrolet Spark will make debut at the Zolder event in Belgium on June 19-20.
click through for press release
General Motors has added a souped up, limited edition Spark (Beat in India) in the Chilean market. Termed the Spark GT, the car features defogger, driver’s airbag, an MP3 music system with USB input, a height adjustable steering wheel and fog lamps. The limited edition GT variant of the Spark will be on sale for the next two months.
GM in India already has its hands full with the process of expanding production output of the the Beat and the Cruze, due to an increased demand for both the products. Due to this reason, special editions and one-off vehicles wouldn’t be on their agenda any time soon.
Both the Beat and the Cruze have proven to be very successful for GM in India, with good sales figures. This has led to the company recording good growth figures as compared to previous years.
French carmaker Renault, in collaboration with Bajaj auto, is working on an ULC which was also displayed in its prototype stage at the Delhi Auto Expo 2008. However, the company has officially gone on the wires and said that it is unlikely to bring the car to the market in 2012 and the energy was on shifting 5 products starting with the Fluence to the market.
