Tag Archives: Chevrolet Spark

Chevrolet Blockbuster Weekend

General Motors India announced a unique offer for its superbly stylish Chevrolet Spark and Chevrolet Beat car for three consecutive days starting from 25th May to 27th May 2012. On booking any of these two cars within these three days from 9 a.m to 9 p.m, one can get a chance to win gifts worth up to Rs. 2 crore and can even win the booked car absolutely free. The gifts, given by General Motors India, comprise of LCD Televisions, Camcorders, Home Theaters, DVD Player, Starting model Chevrolet Spark (non-metallic) and Starting model Chevrolet Beat (non-metallic) available across the country.

Mr. P. Balendran, Vice President, General Motors India said, “This is a very special event and a first ever by Chevrolet, at such a grand scale. With this offer, we have tried to give our esteemed customers yet another reason to cheer and buy our product. We believe this offer will bring smile to customers of the Chevrolet Spark and Chevrolet Beat – India’s most fuel efficient car. We are very pleased to announce this offer and look forward to a favorable response from the market.”

Whatever may be your pick from the list of all models and variants of Chevrolet Beat and Chevrolet Spark, you will drive out with the joy of satisfactory buying experience. This is a limited period offer so hurry and grab this offer!

posted by somdatta.basu @ Friday, May 25th, 2012 Comments Off links to this post
    SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend     Add to Technorati Favorites                 Add New Post

General Motors hikes prices of its car models

After Maruti Suzuki, India’s number one automobile manufacturer has hiked the prices of all its car models by 3.4%, following its footsteps, General Motors India has also hiked prices of all its car models by 0.5 per cent and 1.75 per cent depending on the car model. The price hike is across to compensate rising input costs and the impact of currency fluctuation. The depreciating value of Indian rupee and the higher input cost resulted in the hike of the prices. Now the GM cars will be expensive by Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 15,000 depending upon the model of the car.

Presently, General Motors India are selling 7 car models in India out of which three car models (the Aveo U-VA, the Tavera MUV and the Captiva SUV) are going to be replaced by their facelifted versions. As the price hike is going to affect the present models, they are planning to launch the new models after a couple of months.

General Motors has car models across the spectrum, right from the entry level Chevrolet Spark hatchback to the top of the line Flagship Captiva SUV. After the hike, the company’s entry level car, the Spark, which was earlier priced between Rs. 3.24 lakh and Rs. 4.04 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) will increase by about Rs.3000. The Beat diesel which was earlier priced between Rs.4.29 lakh and Rs.5.45 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) will be costlier by RS.10,500. The company’s mid-sized Cruze sedan will become costlier by Rs.15,000 which was available in the range of Rs.12 lakh to Rs.14.50 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Multipurpose vehicle Tavera will see a price hike of Rs.10,000 to Rs.13,000, depending on the variant, which was priced in the range of Rs.6.62 lakh to Rs.7.56 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). General Motors will also introduce four new car models in the Indian market for 2012. Like Maruti, the reason for this price hike is the increase in input costs and the depreciating Indian rupee.


As Maruti and General Motors have increased the car prices, other car makers also may join the price hike brigade, as there have been announcements of price hike in December 2011 itself.

    SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend     Add to Technorati Favorites                 Add New Post

General Motors India sales jump 17.35 percent

chevrolet_logo1
General Motors India should be on cloud Nine after it reported a 17.35 percent jump in sales in September at 10,112 units as compared to the same month last year. The company’s sales performance last year at the same time stood at 8,617 units.

During last month, the company sold 1,603 units of small car Spark, 5,261 units of hatchback Beat, 71 units of premium hatchback U-VA, 121 units of entry level sedan Aveo, 325 units of mid-sized sedan Optra and 814 units of luxury sedan Cruze. General Motors also sold 1,789 units of multi-purpose vehicle Tavera, and 128 units of sports utility vehicle Captiva during the month.

GM India Vice-President P Balendran said the growth was primarily driven by the company’s new Chevrolet Beat Diesel amid difficult market conditions. He also stated, “The market continues to be sluggish due to repeated hike in interest rates and rising fuel prices, which is creating tremendous pressure in the automobile market.”

posted by carazooblog @ Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 Comments Off links to this post
    SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend     Add to Technorati Favorites                 Add New Post

Chevrolet Sells More Than 4.26 Million Vehicles Globally in 2010

Chvey Logo on Cruze
Chevrolet’s share of the global vehicle industry grew by 0.35 points in 2010, thanks to the amazing sales output that the company saw. Chevrolet sold more than 4.26 million vehicles globally in 2010, an average of one every 7.4 seconds. Boosted by its strong global performance in the first three quarters of 2010, Chevrolet sold more than 1.14 million vehicles in the fourth quarter.

In October 2010, people purchased 361,236 Chevrolet cars, crossovers and trucks worldwide, which show an increase of 16 percent on an annual basis. November got even better with sales of 368,103 units. December brought the perfect gift for Chevrolet with global sales of 416,826 units.

“Chevrolet’s dedication to compelling designs, quality, durability and great value is a winning formula that resonates with consumers around the world,” said Joel Ewanick, GM global chief marketing officer. “We will continue to listen to our customers and do our utmost to deliver what it takes to bring them into the Chevrolet family.”

Most of the sales in 2010 came from the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. These four countries together were responsible for about 33 percent of the brand’s sales, an increase of 2 percentage points over 2009.

In India, Chevrolet sales crossed 100,000 units for the first time. Total sales for the year reached an outstanding 110,350 vehicles, up 60 percent from the previous year. These milestones were achieved primarily because of the good consumer response to cars like Beat, Spark and Cruze.

posted by carazooblog @ Thursday, January 20th, 2011 Comments Off links to this post
    SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend     Add to Technorati Favorites                 Add New Post

General Motors’ Big Indian Plans

CHEVY-ORLANDO
General Motors India, the Indian subsidiary of General Motors, has been doing well recently. Come 2011 and we would see a whole lot of new Chevy vehicles hitting Indian roads. When we say a whole lot, we mean around 6-7 launches in the next two years.

Speaking about launches slated in the next couple of years, Chevy plans to bring in two Light Commercial Vehicles, one in a pickup avatar and the other is a van. Then there is a hatchback (read Chevy Sail Hatchback), a sedan (read Chevy Sail sedan), a small car and Orlando SUV. Since General Motors India belives in 90 per cent localization of parts is critical to its success in an ever growing and fiercely competitive market like India, the possibility of the all-new Aveo and big sister brand cars coming here have been completely ruled out for the moment.

Chevrolet-Sail-Hatchback-1

But that’s not where the entire action lies. General Motors India in an aggressive bid to take the Indian market by storm has already readied its plan and strategy. A part of that strategy is the launch of all-new Chevy Tavera, Diesel and LPG Beats and an electric small car. The All-new face lifted Chevy Tavera comes with a BS IV compliant 2-Litre common rail turbodiesel engine producing 120bhp engine sourced from ICML. GMI will showcase an all new Chevrolet Electric mini-car in April 2011, standing firm on their commitment to have more environmentally friendly products. As reported earlier, General Motors India is all set to launch the LPG version of the Beat in January 2011.

2010-Chevrolet-Sail

Diesel and LPG Beats and a electric small car. As reported earlier, General Motors India is all set to launch the LPG version of the Beat in January 2011.

Just like Chevrolet’s Spark LPG, this little Chevrolet Beat also would be equipped with dual-fuel engine, which the customers also have been waiting anxiously. GM has already geared up for mass production of these LPG Beats. Chevrolet has really turned things around for the better with their 3 Year Chevrolet Promise, which offers zero-headache maintenance for the Chevrolet small car range.

General Motors India will take the game a notch higher with the launch of the Diesel Beat as well. Expected to be launched probably by March 2011, the diesel Chevy Beat will be powered by a one litre, 3-Cylinder common-rail turbocharged engine sourced from the Fiat-GM uniJet (JTD) engine range that produces about 65 bhp.

Chevrolet_Beat_Green

The production of these diesel engines along with petrol engines will start in their newly inaugurated Talegaon Flexi-Line powertrain plant. With the opening of the new flexi-engine line, General Motors can produce a mix-and-match of whatever type of engine they want in the numbers they would like. At the moment GMI will be producing 1.6Lakh engines but have an additional capacity of 1.4Lakh engines, should the need arise to ramp up the production. GMI plans to use this engine facility as an export base for small new diesel engines since it is the only facility in the world, which will manufacture the above-mentioned variant of the JTD engine. Post-expansion, GMI should be in a position to manufacture engines for three lakh cars per annum in this facility.

General Motors India now can also boast of a sales network that is growing day in and day out. General Motors India is here to stay as they are growing the sales network from 80 to 240 as a back up to disburse more and more Chevy cars that are produced.

posted by carazooblog @ Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010 Comments Off links to this post
    SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend     Add to Technorati Favorites                 Add New Post

And the National Safety Award Goes to…

Genaral Motor_IndiaCan it be the Tata Nano? The car has passed all the tormenting safety tests more than once, but we all know that the recent fire incident has put it back in the hot seat. The matter is still under investigation. This award, however, is not for the safest car; it’s for the safest plant. Guess who won the award! It was GM India last year, and if you’re thinking of GM winning it once again, you are absolutely right.

Thanks to GM’s Halol plant, General Motors India has won itself the esteemed National Safety Award in the Motor Vehicles category for the second year in a row. The plant has received the recognition it deserves for its best safety systems pertaining to two critical areas. The Halol plant has been considered safest in the industry under the categories of Lowest Average Frequency Rate and Highest Man-Hours for Accident Free Year.

Directorate General of the Factory Advice Service & Labour Institute (DGFASLI), the country’s premier institution for safety, with the support of Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India, bestows this award. It was GM India’s turn for the second time in a row.

Commenting on this, Mr P Balendran, Vice-President, General Motors India said, “The award demonstrates General Motors’ commitment to safety and security measures at its plants. We have maintained a continued focus on encouraging accident prevention and implementing safety procedures across all our processes and management.

This award is very significant, as it comes against stiff competition from automobile manufacturers in India. Winning this award for the second year in a row reiterates our commitment to the high safety and security standards and we will continue raising the bar for safety in all our operations.”

Back in 1965, the Government of India had introduced the National Safety Awards in order to recognize, reward and motivate phenomenal safety performance on the part of industrial establishments. The second motive was to support accident prevention and safety promotion programmes.

This year, there was stiff competition. However, it was GM India that managed to grab the award endorsed by Directorate of Industrial Safety & Health for the automobiles category. This award seems to be adding a feather in the auto maker’s cap. It’s celebration time for GM India which is celebrating seven years of a successful journey in the Indian car industry. GM’s Talegaon plant in Maharashtra is celebrating its two-year presence.

The Talegaon plant has a capacity of 145,000 while the Halol plant has a net installed capacity of 85,000 units in 3 shifts. Earlier, GM was operating in a single shift at the Halol plant. It then started a second shift and plans to have a third one. GM India president and managing director Karl Slym calls the Halol plant flexible and feels it is capable of manufacturing all the models of GM India. GM currently sells the Aveo, Aveo U-VA, Beat, Captiva, Cruze, Optra Magnum, Optra SRV, Spark and Tavera under the Chevrolet brand in India.

Of the company’s last year’s production, less than 40,000 units were produced at Talegaon and the rest at Halol. A total of around 70,000 units were sold. Talegaon currently produces only Spark.

posted by carazooblog @ Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post
    SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend     Add to Technorati Favorites                 Add New Post

KNCAP Bestows Top Safety Ratings to Chevrolet Beat/Spark

Chevrolet_Beat_India
Chevrolet Beat/Spark owners have a reason or two to be happy about. The Korean New Car Assessment Program (KNCAP) has certified the Chevrolet Beat/Spark with best ratings bestowed upon it nothing less than five stars. Chevrolet Beat was awarded four stars in last year’s Euro NCAP as well. The car showed immaculate mettle during the front crash and frontal offset crash tests.

“The outstanding performance of our new mini-car in stringent NCAP testing reflects our attention to safety as well as eye-catching styling and great packaging,” said Jack Keaton, vehicle line executive for General Motors’ Global Mini-Vehicle. “GM has made safety a focus as part of our ongoing commitment to design, build and sell the best vehicles in the world.”

The Spark scored a four-star rating in pedestrian protection, with the best scores ever (19.54 points out of a maximum 30 points) for any car category, and the whiplash test.

The Euro NCAP gave a maximum score of eight points in the side-impact crash test against a moving deformable barrier. The Chevrolet Spark also received a score of 7.35 points out of 8 points in the side pole test, indicating solid passenger protection in the event of a more severe side collision.

Chevrolet_Beat_India_Launch

The Spark also scored big in terms of child restraint system dynamic performance tests. The active and passive safety features of the car enhance its structural safety. More than 66 per cent of the car has been built using high-strength steel, with 16.5 percent comprised of ultra high-strength steel.

In addition to its strong results in KNCAP and Euro NCAP testing, the Spark received a Grade 1 rating from the Korea Insurance Development Institute (KIDI).
General Motors has launched Spark/ Beat in Asian countries including India and some parts of Europe. Chevrolet Spark will be launched in the US by 2012.

posted by carazooblog @ Monday, August 30th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post
    SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend     Add to Technorati Favorites                 Add New Post

General Motors’ Electric Chevrolet Sail to Replace the E-Spark?

Chevrolet-Sail-Hatchback
General Motors is almost ready with its new engine plant at Talegaon and it will become operational by November this year. And once that happens, the launch of the Chevrolet Beat diesel would be just inches away. And now we have further news from the camp of General Motors India. And this time it is the India-bound Chevrolet Sail that is grabbing all the attention.

Whispers down the lane say that General Motors is deeply engrossed with the development of an electric variant of the Chevrolet Sail hatchback in China. We are not privileged with technical details yet, but assuming that it would be powertrain meant for maximum range and modest power would be a safe bet any day.

This undoubtedly reminds us of GM India’s e-Spark project that went down the acquisition wave that swept the electric car making company REVA and merged it with Mahindra & Mahindra. And we come to the question: Will GM India decide to replace the e-Spark with the e-Sail?

We have earlier said that General Motors would take the first opportunity to launch the hatchback and sedan version of the Sail in India, and if things go alright, the e-Sail would join the bandwagon of the Sail range in the Indian market. The Sail is a much bigger car when compared to the Chevrolet Spark. The small car has a high localisation level and the battery packs and motors were likely to be sourced from REVA. The electric car manufacturing company is based out of Bangalore, and this would have helped GM’s cause of keeping the prices competitive.

On the other hand, the Chevrolet Sail would come from the land of the yellows and the Indian government does not see Beijing in the same way as Bangalore. Consequently, the duties will be higher which in turn would shoot up the prices. Talk about losing out on the pricing front!

The Sail was introduced by SAIC-GM at Auto China 2010. Shanghai GM and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC), both GM-SAIC joint ventures, introduced the car and we’ve heard that the new Sail will be sold in China and exported to other emerging markets. The Chevrolet Sail comes equipped with a 1.2-liter and 1.4-liter petrol engine that is coupled with a 5-speed manual transmission.

General Motors has revealed that that it will bring out electric vehicles for India through its in-house program in the next few years. The launch of this vehicle would certainly give the car maker a taste of the local waters and gauzing the market for more affordable electric cars would become an easy task for the company.

posted by carazooblog @ Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post
    SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend     Add to Technorati Favorites                 Add New Post

General Motors India to Launch BS IV Version Tavera by Next Year

Chevrolet-Tavera-B1-7-seats-BSIII-BG
When the new emission norms were introduced in India in April 2010, General Motors India had to phase out its popular SUV Tavera. Later the company said that it would focus on selling the Chevrolet Tavera primarily in the rural Indian regions. And now we hear something completely new. The company now says that it would roll out the BS IV version of the Tavera by the next year.

General Motors India Managing Director Karl Slym said, “We concluded the agreement last week and now have partnered with International Cars and Motors Ltd (ICML) to roll out the BS IV version of Tavera”.

And the process of rolling out the new Chevrolet Tavera is happening in fast forward. According to Slym, the BS IV powertrain equipped Tavera would hit the market by January 1, 2011. Not only that, the new Tavera is capable of being upgraded to BS V too. All the products in the Chevrolet line-up would be BS IV variant by 2011, he said. The BS IV compliant Tavera would be strapped with a two litre CRDi engine, and the price would be increased slightly too.

At present, the company produces premium SUV Captiva, midsize sedan Optra, premium sedan Cruze, midsize sedan Aveo, hatchbacks Aveo U-VA, Spark, Beat and SUV Tavera from its manufacturing facilities in Halol in Gujarat and in Talegaon.

General Motors’ manufacturing facility at Talegaon in Maharashtra would start rolling out engines from November 12. Initially it will have a manufacturing capacity of 1.4 lakh units in one shift, with provision for doubling it.

General Motors India Vice President P Balendran revealed that the company had so far invested Rs 5000 crore in India. General Motors started its first flexi engine plant at the Talegoan plant where both petrol and diesel small car engines would be manufactured.

He also gave some vital information about the possible roll out of Light Commercial vehicles and two new cars in India by next year end.

“We will bring out three pickup vans from the commercial vehicle segment and two passenger car variants by end of next year or early 2012. All these would have 90 per cent localisation content,” he said.

Slym had earlier said that the company has raised a Rs 1,000 crore from a consortium of Indian banks to part-fund a USD 250 mn (nearly Rs 1,160 crore) investment for launching five vehicles from the stable of Chinese partner, SAIC, by 2012.

Balendran said GM intends to reach the one lakh sales mark this year. “Last year we sold 69,579 units and this year we are targeting over one lakh units. In the first six months of this year, already 68,000 units have been sold and the growth this year was over 80 per cent,” he said.

posted by carazooblog @ Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post
    SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend     Add to Technorati Favorites                 Add New Post

Chevy Spark Woody – Art Or Eyesore?

Chevrolet-Spark-Beat-Woody-Wagon
Chevrolet has revealed a new special edition of the Spark, which is well known in the Indian market as Beat, for the European market to promote the brand among younger car buyers. Now, before you get your hopes very high, let us tell you that you are in for some serious disappointment. The Spark art car comes nowhere close to the BMW art cars that our eyes are so used to feast upon. Anyways, let’s move on to the case in point here, which is the Chevrolet Spark art car.

The car, apparently, is a homage to the ‘woodies’ of 1950s America and has a three-quarter vinyl body wrap that creates a wood effect on the rear of the vehicle. The Spark also features retro-style white rims and tyres, which are pretty good and convey the theme clearly. The Spark Woody is a one-off art car that recalls the surf movement in the USA of the late Fifties and early Sixties, which explains the surfboard on the top of the car.

Chevrolet said that the Spark Woody was created to celebrate brand’s American heritage and connection to youth culture. Woodies were traditionally large estate cars with wood-framed bodywork that were all the rage among surfers because they were affordable and large enough to carry boards and equipment. The style remained popular in the US much after wood became obsolete in car production. But many car manufacturers retained the woody look with vinyl paneling.

Chevrolet-Spark-Beat-Woody-Wagon-Tyre

The Chevrolet Spark Woody was unveiled in Newquay in Cornwall, UK at the start of annual Boardmasters surf, skate and music festival. The Spark Woody will also be showcased at the grand finale of this year’s “Young? Creative? Chevrolet!” arts competition, which will take place on the eve of the International Motor Show, Paris.

This Spark Woody is one the many Art Sparks created by Chevrolet Europe in the past year. Other Spark Arts have been designed by German fashion designer Smeilinener and Portuguese art student Jose Rocha. There has also been a Spark DJ Car – the world’s largest record turntable, created by Chevrolet UK this year.

Chevrolet-Spark-Beat-Woody-Wagon-8

A further Art Spark, created by 27-year old British artist Ian Cook, will be unveiled later this month at Silverstone Circuit to coincide with the British Touring Car Championship meeting there, while the Spark Woody will make its next public appearance this coming weekend at Snetterton.

The Spark Woody is one-off and will not make it to production. Whether it comes as good news or bad, we will leave that on you. At the risk of sounding too critical, we would say that the latest art work on Spark is in vain. They say art is subjective and somewhat complicated to understand. But, God, we have eyes and this piece of art is definitely an eyesore. Let us know what you think.

posted by carazooblog @ Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post
    SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend     Add to Technorati Favorites                 Add New Post