2011 Chevrolet Beat Diesel
As petrol prices have sky rocketed to a level where two wheelers seem the sensible option for most prospective car buyers, a diesel hatchback makes so much more sense as Diesel is still being taxed lesser than petrol by the Indian government. So, diesel cars are most definitely the flavor of the season. The Chevrolet Beat Diesel has been long in the coming with General Motors India making some positive noises at the launch of the Chevrolet Beat LPG recently. According to General Motors India Vice-President P Balendran, the Chevrolet Beat Diesel will be launched in June, 2011.
He also went on to add that the Chevrolet Beat featuring the 1 liter CRDI diesel engine is not a volume player for General Motors, which is really surprising as we expect the Diesel Beat to really improve the fortunes of the Beat brand as a whole. General Motors India, for it’s part has been constantly improving the Beat based on the market feedback and the latest SMARTECH engine was a move in this direction, to improve the low end tractability of the petrol Beat. Now, a top GM India official mentioning that the Beat is not a volume player for GM could mean three things.
One: That he hasn’t a clue about what the Beat lacks right now, which is a diesel engine and that the Diesel as recently as January 2011 anaged to clock in at units, which while falling short of the market leaders the Hyundai i10 and the Maruti Suzuki Swift, is still a very reasonable number.
Two: That General Motors plans to sell the Diesel Beat with a high price tag, a-la-Nissan Micra Diesel and ensure that they shoot themselves onto their own feet and manage to convert the high potential Beat Diesel into an absolute sales dud.
Three: That, he simply has been misquoted.
The last option seems most likely or so we hope as the Chevrolet Beat Diesel simply deserves to be very competitively priced if GM India aim to consolidate their position in the Great Indian Small Car market. Otherwise, introducing a high priced diesel variant would simply not make sense, especially when the likes of the WagonR and the i10 are setting sales charts afire, month after month.
Source: 2011 Chevrolet Beat Diesel
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