GM to launch Beat in 2009

Remember the small car from GM which was caught testing in China.In all possibility we will see that car on Indian roads by 2009 itself.

This new car could be cheaper than the Spark even is what GM have told us and also the fact that this car could be here by the year end.Chevrolet have even talked about a sub 1.0L engine for the car.So this car may just see a 800cc engine in India.

Here's the link to the older post.
GM small car caught testing.

Chevrolet India cuts prices of the Spark once again

With Chevrolet India you just cannot be assured that you have just had the best deal.No I am not referring to their cars,they are perhaps the best in class,its the pricing aspect.

Just when you think you have bought the car from Chevrolet at the best possible price a few months down the line chevrolet come up with an ever cheaper version[Now whether that's worth complaining is something I leave entirely upto you]

But during these record breaking days of inflation it is nice to know prices of something atleast is going the other way[downwards that is].Chevrolet are now selling the base variant[without power steering however it does come with AC] of the Spark at Rs.2.66 lakhs ex-showroom i.e. Rs55,000 below the price it was sold last year.

Unlike other manufacturers they are not calling this a discount however,they are instead calling this the benefits of increased localization and volumes at the plant in Halol,Gujarat.I am just wondering what would actually happen when the Pune plant gets commissioned,perhaps the Tata Nano could get a new competitor.

[source:Economictimes.com]

[image source:wikipedia]

Hyundai Elantra the best in Consumer Reports 2008

One more reason why we should be angry with Hyundai India.They are keeping away from us the car which even beat rivals like Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla in the latest ranking by Consumer Reports,USA for the best car in the USA in its segment.

Hyundai have been gaining steadily on the Japanese rivals and there is not much to choose between the two now[an i10 owner could vouch for that].They have come a long way from being the also present to being the best now.The only difference between the Japanese and Hyundai seems to be the time taken,where Hyundai is making progress at a much rapid rate than what the japanese took to achieve its present number one position.Beware Honda,Toyota,Nissan Hyundai is not very far away and its not long before Hyundai could even beat them at their own game.

Also read:
Hyundai could just steal the thunder from Toyota

Another car of interest for us in India in the list is the Chevrolet Aveo sedan,which incidentally has been the worst vehicle and comes up last in its category.

[Source:Autoblog]

Fiat Linea to compete with Honda civic

Unlike what you and me think,NDTV thinks that the Fiat linea would not compete with cars in the C-segment but instead be targeting competitors in the d-segment.Competition that includes the likes of the Honda civic and the Skoda octavia.

To tell you that I am suprised would be more of an understatement as the Linea was always supposed to be a c-segment car.NDTV predict the Linea to be priced between Rs.8-11 lakhs.They are not sure about the specifications of the car or the equipment it would come with.However they hinted that the linea would not get the 1.3L diesel multijet but a more powerful engine[perhaps the 1.9L one].

Now is this an intentional strategy by fiat to speculate a higher price and then suprise everybody with a cheaper price tag only time will tell but the wait should not be very long since the linea launch is just a few months away.

PS:Sticking to the NDTV report,NDTV also says that we should soon see the fiat multijet diesel engines on the chevrolet aveo range in india[That means both the hatch as well as the sedan].

[source:NDTV]

Coming soon next generation Nissan X-trail

Just spotted a dozen odd next generation x-trail's from Nissan indicating a possible launch soon in the Indian markets.The battle in this premium softroader segment is just heating up with Honda Crv[diesel coming soon],Chevrolet Captiva,Mitsubishi Outlander[expected soon] and the Hyundai Santa Fe[also expected soon],Maruti grand vitara[Maruti desperately needs a diesel grand vitara if it does not want the vitara to only remain in the showrooms] .


The new xtrail is slightly longer than the older version and is based on the renault/nissan C platform.

Nissan would do well to launch a sensibly priced car since right now its more of a Hotel Leela car in India and if the present pricing structure continues given the fact that the nissan network in India is almost non-existant it would be hard to imagine a customer walking into a nissan showroom given the number of choices.

It would be real interesting to see who emerges the winner since all except Maruti would be offering a diesel and are almost equally matched in specs and luxury.If you ask me,I feel the Honda badge may just have that extra edge especially after the addition of the diesel in its line-up

If anything one gets a feeling toyota seems to have missed out in this segment and they have more than a few vehicles which could batlle it out in this segment.

Chevrolet Aveo and Suzuki SX4 battle it out for the best interiors

Surprising but true,the SX4 is battling it out for the best interiors and its not in the Indian market we are taking about its in the Wards interior of the year awards at the Auto interior show in detroit[June 4-5 ,2008 at Detroit's Cobo Center].

Nope there is not much difference in the interiors between the sx4 in america and the one in India.Ofcourse the all important build quality differs from market to market after all Maruti's are supposed to fall off after a year or two.In its category the sx4 is competing with the chevrolet aveo,the scion xd,the ford focus and the chevrolet aveo.

Regarding the Chevrolet aveo atleast from an Indian perspective there should be no surprises for the nomination.

There are 36 cars overall and cars available in India which are included are the New Toyota Corolla[next generation],Honda accord[next generation],Hyundai Sonata

Heres what Wards have to say
Thirty-six outstanding vehicle interiors representing 13 manufacturers will compete for top honors in the 9th annual "Ward's Interior of the Year" awards.

For details and all competitors visit :
dexigner.com

Chevrolet's new small car caught testing in China

Chevrolet is planning to launch another small car in the Indian market to complement the Chevrolet spark.This car would most probably be based on the chevrolet beat concept

A small car based on the chevrolet beat concept has been caught testing in China

This new car could be cheaper than the Spark even is what GM have told us and also the fact that this car could be here by the year end.Chevrolet have even talked about a sub 1.0L engine for the car.So this car may just see a 800cc engine in India.

Here's a spy picture of the new car from GM taken in China by china car times.

Image source:
Chinacartimes

GM India - Employee motivational video

I have been very critical of the Chevrolet ads oflate but the recent one has brought back some sanity.

Chevrolet has gone backed to the theme it used during the launch of the Chevrolet brand in India and I like this new ad regarding its 5th anniversary celebrations which has been doing the rounds on TV recently.As promised earlier heres the link:



I have not been able to read the fineprint of the Chevrolet offer regarding completely free maintainance of your chevrolet car for three years.But if what the ads say are true,then it is a fantastic offer where the customer has a completely hassle free experience for three years.No cash expense at all apart from the initial expenditure.

Heres a video I have come across from GM,a motivational video for GM employees in India,

Dhan dhanadan dhanadan Dhan dhanadan dhanadan... Team GM go says the Video.It talks about One team - One vision,the vision to be number one.



Wishing GM all the very best in India.

Chevrolet Captivates The Indian Buyer

The Chevrolet captiva is all set to become a runaway success for GM with approx 1200 now expected to be sold when GM was targeting only 1000.What GM[and other manufacturers in India for that matter] should realise is that they seem to be spending too much time and valuable $$$ on the small car segment when there are other segments still waiting to be tapped.

On a personal level I like the looks of the Captiva and that it gives you a seven seater option plus it being a diesel gives the Captiva the edge over its rivals.

Once again emphasis the importance of diesel in Indian markets and that even the super rich are bothered when it comes to their monthly fuel bills.Whatever manufacturers like Honda tell I believe, our market too has matured like the European markets and accepted diesel and its really important for manufacturers to offer diesel as well no matter what the segment.The Tata nano buyer or the Mercedes/BMW buyer will go in for a diesel if given a choice.

While at the topic of SUV's what I picked up is GM is also looking at introducing new variants of the Tavera[MUV] with even possibly an all new engine to take on the likes of the Toyota Innnova,Tata Sumo Grande and the yet to be launched Mahindra Ingenio.About time since the Tavera is now mostly a Call centre cab and as far as the individual buyer is concerned it has become a strict no no.

[Image source:About.com]

Update:
Honda have responded and shall bring in their diesel CRV soon:
Honda To bring in its diesel CRV soon,Marutis new small car.

Chevrolet Tavera -The difference between GM and Toyota

You want to know why the Japanese manufacturer is such a dominant force in the automobile world and why GM is having such a hard time,look no further than the Chevrolet Tavera.

Toyota India initially identified the MUV space which could get them sales in the Indian market somewhere where they would have no competition but knew prices had to be kept on the lower side since this segment was totally new in India and people had not yet accepted the Toyota brand in India.So they bring the more than a decade old Toyota Qualis into the market and since they have no real competitor establish themselves well and are able to generate a good degree of sales.GM was fortunate enough to have a similar vehicle in its global stables and brought in the Tavera,which was good enough to take on the Qualis.

So what did Toyota do they upped the game brought the latest generation MUV the Toyota Innova into India inspite of very good sales of the qualis and repeated requests not to discontinue the qualis.Toyota realised that they could get into the luxury car segment as well and not only depend on the tourist/commercial segment if they do so.What it also meant that Toyota could make more profits from this luxury oriented and consequently higher priced MUV.

GM has alway had to play the catch up game with Toyota.Today sales of the Tavera have stagnated.The outdated nature of the Tavera has kept it out of the Private buyers radar.This really creates a bad image of the vehicle and the company.It is the Taxi/commercial segment who are the main segment of consumers of the Tavera today.The end result is Toyota is able to sell many more Innova's as compared to the Tavera but at the same time Toyota is making more money from each vehicle it sells.Its not only about fancy management concepts like Just in Time,its things like these what makes Toyota the company it is today.

Its high time GM stops the Tavera in India and brings in something that would be completely out of the box.

Also read:
Chevrolet Captivates The Indian Buyer

GM working on its version of the Maruti 800

As I said previously Gm is looking at the A-segment of cars in India seriously and the GM-Daewoo team is working on a sub 1L engine car for markets like India.This car obviously won't be priced at Rs.1 Lakh but is intended for the A-segment more of a rival of the Maruti 800.There is also some talk of a chinese partner for developing this small car.

GM may also launch a new small car in India this year by April to supplement the sales generated by The Spark.Don't know the pricing details about this car but is expected to take on the Hyundai i10.As far as margins,GM expects an impressive number from the recently launched Captiva to help it.It is expecting to sell about 1000 units of these by the end of 2008.

To just give a measure of the demand of small cars in India the Maruti Alto is all set to cross the 1 million magic figure in a week or two.However must say I am very disappointed by the largest manufacturer in India[Maruti] so far.They seem to have lost the plot a bit.While other manufacturers are talking about a new launch every month almost as far as small cars are concerned Maruti seems to be having nothing much to offer to replace its existing fleet which is aging rapidly.

Chevrolet Captiva to debut at the Auto expo in Jan 2008

Another car to debut at the Jan 2008 auto expo in New Delhi,This time its the Chevrolet Captiva which would be launched in the Indian markets at the auto expo which is sure going to be the place to be with more than a couple of manufacturer trying to hog the limelight.

The Captiva would initially be brought in as a completely built unit (CBU) which would most probably take its price tag closer to the Rs.20L mark.Chevrolet will only start assembling the car here after gauging the initial response.


The Captiva is expected with a 2.0L TCDi diesel whose tech specs are:
Maximum Power:148bhp@4000rpm
Maximum Torque:32.6kgm@2000rpm


I hope GM do a Maruti in this case and have a more aggressive pricing strategy,20Lakhs looks too steep a price tag.