The new Chevrolet Spark will begin its Indian escapade as ‘Beat’
GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., the Korean unit of U.S. carmaker General Motors Co., has begun exports of the next generation Chevrolet Spark to European markets. The new Spark will sell in more than 150 countries and India is also among the nations.
GM Daewoo began selling the new Spark in the South Korean market from September 2009 under the name of Matiz Creative. Fitted with a 1-liter gasoline engine and a four-speed automatic gearbox, the new Spark can return a mileage of 17kmpl.
Hwang Woo-seong, Head of GM Daewoo’s plant -
Given its performance, design and quality, the Matiz Creative is expected to satisfy the needs of customers around the world
By the end of 2010, GM Daewoo is eying an export figure of 20,000 units. The new Spark will be sold in India as “Beat” starting January 2010.
We guessed it right! Chevrolet’s new small car to be unveiled at next year’s Auto Expo will be christened Beat. The same is also its concept’s name.
This isn’t the first time a company is using the name of the concept for the production version.Maruti’s A-Star concept did not come through into the real world with the same panache. The name was retained as a consolation.
President and MD of General Motors India, Karl Slym -
The Beat is on schedule and is being tested as of now. We will start production for sale on December 15 this year. It will be first displayed at the 2010 Auto Expo in Delhi in January
The Beat will be strapped with a 80bhp 1.2-liter petrol engine. Later in the year, a diesel engine is also likely to be on sale.
Launched days back in Korea as the GM-Daewoo Matiz with a 4-cylinder, 16-valve DOHC engine with a displacement of 1,000 cc that delivers 69 hp, the new Chevrolet Spark, as it will be called in India, was caught testing at an unknown location. The new Spark will co-exist alongside the existing Spark as a premium offering.
The Indian Spark will be powered by a 1.2-litre, 82bhp Chevrolet Family-B petrol engine. At a later stage, it will be joined by a 3-cylinder 936cc, 57bhp Multijet diesel from Fiat. With close to 140 Nm of torque, this is going to be an exciting drive in the city.
The new city car from GM, which will be in India by this year end, rolled out of Daewoo’s plant in Korea as the Matiz a few days ago. The production of the rebadged Chevrolet Spark with a different grill, will be launched in Korea with a 1.0-liter and 1.2-liter petrol engine capable of delivering 66 PS and 78 PS respectively.
GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Corp has made it official that the new Spark (which will be named groove) will be introduced into the South Korean market in September.
The company said it has initiated production of the car at its Changwon plant, near Seoul. The car will be sold with a 1.0-liter petrol engine.
GM India has announced the mini car will be launched here in December. Initially only a petrol engine will be offered and late next year, a diesel engine will be transplanted into the car as its approaches its export time frame.
We’ve already brought you a set of shots and video of a Chevrolet Spark/Beat test mule on Indian roads. On the previous occasion, things were a bit foggy, which is not the case with the new set of shots sent to us by Mahantesh who reads Indian Autos Blog daily.
Mahantesh spotted this camouflaged Chevrolet Beat/Spark on the Bangalore-Mysore highway. When questioned, the team that tested the mules reiterated the car’s December launch. The test mule had a petrol engine, but the displacement or power was not divulged.
Mahantesh observes the rear of the new Spark/Beat is similar to the Ritz in size and style. He peeped in to find a lot of leg room for both the front and rear passenger. The unique instrument cluster also caught his attention.
We don’t know whether GM India will call this the Spark, new Spark or the Beat, but we are damn sure the new Chevy Spark be most stylish hatchback in India.
Indian Autos Blog reader Prakash Mavinkurve spotted the partly camouflaged car in his city. This is a very recent car from Chevrolet, fresh design, interiors and technology. In India it is expected to debut in the month of December. GM calls it a “mini car.”
The new Chevrolet Spark will also be rebadged as a Daewoo in Korea. The new Spark, till the time its new powertrain facility is ready in India, which is late next year, will come only with a petrol engine.
Is General Motors making headlines or what? The (former) American Auto giant filed for bankruptcy hours ago, but clearly stated its Indian operations would remain unharmed.
GM has managed finally to find a home in China for the Hummer brand, which is another huge achievement for the company, since its been like donkey years since the search began.
Would Hummer make any sense in this era of small and fuel efficient vehicles which even the U.S is witnessing? We can’t do any answering now but all we can say is a lot of exciting products could wear the Hummer badge in the future. It all depends on the way the team regroups and works, because its terribly easy to screw it up.
But the hot report of the lot is the Rs.2-lakh car for the Indian market. The new small car would be positioned below the Spark which is currently the cheapest car in India.
Other than India, markets like Russia, China and Latin America would also be on this car’s radar, the report said.
The report also adds a new Chevrolet Spark variant would supplement the existing range. This could either be the 800cc engine or the LPG variant. Guess we have to wait and see.
The new Chevrolet Spark will begin its Indian escapade as ‘Beat’
