General Motors to launch Chevrolet Enjoy in two-three months

General Motors India will launch Chevrolet Enjoy, the Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV), in two to three months, a company official said.

It will be one of Chevrolet India's three products borrowed from China's GM-SAIC joint venture. While the first product, Sail U-VA hatchback, was launched in November, the Sail sedan was launched in Hyderabad on Monday.

Sastry Vempati, vice president, product planning, General Motors India, told reporters that Sail Sedan, the first launch of the year and the MPV would meet the needs of domestic market and establish the company as a key competitor.

Chevrolet Sail Premium Sedan is a new global passenger car platform created especially for fast-growing emerging markets.

Engineers at the GM Technical centre-India in Bangalore spent nearly two years refining the platform for India to ensure that it met the requirements of the local market and car buyers.

With this launch, GM has entered car B segment, the fastest growing segment in the otherwise sluggish market.

With 40,000 monthly sales, this segment is growing at 41 percent for last three years. Its contribution to the overall market is 23 percent.

Claiming that Sail Sedan has redefined styling, comfort and safety, he was confident it would outperform Maruti Swift Desire, which is the leader in the car B segment.

Sail Sedan, said to be the most spacious in the segment, is priced between Rs.4.99 lakh and Rs.6.41 lakh (petrol) and between Rs.6.29 lakh and Rs.7.51 lakh (diesel).

GM has so far sold six lakh Sail Sedan cars around the world with the highest sales of 30,000 a month in China.

The company hopes to sell 48,000 Sail U-VA and Sail Sedan cars a year in India. Since its launch in November last year, it sold 4,500 Sail U-VA.

"The feedback is really encouraging. It is the only car which has won four awards in such a short span of time," said Gagandeep Singh, regional manager, sales, south India.

Noting that the car market in India was sluggish for last three years, Sastry said such ups and downs were common in emerging market like India.

"The long term potential in India is very good," he said, and hoped that the recent rate cut by RBI and the coming budget would improve the market conditions.

The all new Chevrolet Spark launched

General Motors has launched the updated Spark hatchback in India. The 2012 Chevrolet Spark gets many changes inside out including a face-lift which makes it up-to-date with other Chevy cars.  The new Spark is available in both petrol and LPG options and is costlier by up to Rs 10,000 from the existing comparable versions of the model, which will be discontinued, the company said. 

 

The small car is now available between Rs 3.26 lakh and Rs 3.81 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) for the petrol variant and Rs 3.81 lakh and Rs 4.10 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) for the LPG option. 

 

New two-tone finish upholstery, updated wing inspired instrument cluster, 2-DIN audio system with aux and USB functionality have been added to the interiors. 

 

A high roofline in the Chevrolet Spark ensures spacious headroom and legroom not just for front seat passengers, but also for anyone sitting in the rear seat. A high roofline in the Chevrolet Spark ensures spacious headroom and legroom not just for front seat passengers, but also for anyone sitting in the rear seat. 

 

The Spark is still powered by a 1.0-litre 63PS 4-cylinder engine which is available in both petrol and LPG trims. 

Apart from new design such as the twin-port grille, the new Spark has is powered by a 1-litre petrol engine with new-age innovations that ensure smooth, noiseless, efficient, powerful, reliable and low-maintenance operation, the company claimed.

The Spark is also furnished with a variety of clever and practical storage spaces.

 

There are five variants on offer now with a choice of seven colours. 

 

GM India is offering a three-year/100,000-km standard warranty under the Chevrolet Promise Cost of Ownership Programme, which also provides free maintenance for three years or 45,000 km. 

GM ends alliance with Reva

Following the M&M-RECC pact, the GM called off its deal with electric car firm and plans to source Volt’s technology from their global electric vehicle.

India’s Mahindra buys Reva majority stake, GM to Develop New India Electric Car, Ends Reva Deal.

Indian car maker Mahindra and Mahindra said on Wednesday it had bought a majority stake in Bangalore-based Reva Electric Car to strengthen its position in the low-emission electric auto market.

Mahindra, India’s largest sports utility vehicle and tractor maker, bought a 55.2 percent stake in Reva, a global leader in producing low-cost electric cars.

The deal includes buying out equity from the promoters of Reva and providing 450 million rupees (9.5 million dollars) in fresh equity, a statement to the Mumbai stock exchange said. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Reva’s promoters, the Maini family, will hold 31% in Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle Company while Lon Bell, the co-founder, will hold 11% . Employees with stock options will hold the rest. “We expect that there will be 1.5 million electric cars sold globally. I see no reason why Reva cars will not be 50,000 of that 1.5 million in the next 7 to 10 years; this deal is a part of the larger strategy within the Mahindra group of focusing on sustained mobility,” said Pawan Goenka, president (automotive & farm equipment sectors), Mahindra & Mahindra, who will take over as chairman. Given our expertise in the overall vehicle development, we’ll work closely now with Mahindra Reva to make NXR and NXG a cost competitive and commercially viable product. We have also tied up funds for the first launch for Reva (NXR-NXG).”

GM to Develop New India Electric Car, Ends Reva Deal

Aday after Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd said it was taking a controlling stake in Bangalore-based Reva Electric Car Co., General Motors India (GM) scrapped its partnership with the company being acquired, saying it would make use of its own alternative fuel and propulsion technologies. “We plan to look within the General Motors portfolio for alternate technology vehicles,” said Karl Slym, president and managing director of GM India. Its US parent company is working on launching the Volt, a car that runs on batteries and has a small combustion engine that charges the cells as the car runs, giving it a range of 480km. The car is scheduled to be launched in the fourth quarter of this calendar year. The Reva, which operates solely on batteries, has a range of 80km.

The company is on track to launch light commercial vehicles as well as cars brought from its Chinese partner SAIC Corp. by the end of 2011. The cars will be sold in India under the Chevrolet badge. The three light truck models in the one-tonne range will be manufactured at its plant at Halol in Gujarat. It declined to disclose details on the cars to be launched. GM India is a 50-50 partnership between US-based General Motors Corp. and Shanghai-based SAIC Corp.

GM launches new mini car Beat

GM launches new mini car Beat, expects 40% sales surge this year

With the launch of its global mini car, the ‘Chevrolet Beat’, General Motors India sees its total sales crossing 100,000 in 2010 from 70,000 units in 2009.

The 1.2 litre petrol car will be available in three variants — PS, LS and LT. The price will range from Rs 3.25 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the PS variant, Rs 3.54 lakh for the LS and Rs 3.94 lakh for the high-end LT variant.

“With its best-in-segment design, performance and safety, the Beat is destined to become an industry benchmark and a winner among consumers in India,” GM India President and Managing Director Karl Slym told reporters at the launch of the car in Delhi.

On how the price was kept so low, Ankush Arora, vice-president (sales, marketing and after sales), said: “This has been achieved by 60 per cent localisation of parts.”

“We will start exporting the car only by December-end and will export 20 per cent of the units produced,” Slym said. The company is looking at Europe and the Asia-Pacific. Slym added that the company would launch the Beat’s diesel version later this year.

Beat is the second car from GM’s 300 series platform, following last year’s the launch of its utility vehicle, Chevrolet Cruze. The company took 27 months to develop it. The car will be launched across 150 countries in the coming months. As of now, Beat has been launched in Korea, Europe and West Asia. It sells 5,000 units a month in Korea.

The US auto major is also working on designing a small car at its Bangalore centre. “We are developing vehicles for India at the Bangalore centre and the focus is more on small cars, as India is a small car market,” said General Motors’ Vice-President (Global Design) Edward T Welburn. The Bangalore design centre, with around 60 engineers, is one of the 10 such centres of General Motors worldwide.