Beat Diesel- unveiled in India- The Cheapest Diesel car in India.

With a plan to tap into the surgingdemand for diesel small cars, General Motors India (GMI) has launched a dieselmodel of the Chevrolet Beat small car. With introductory prices starting at Rs 4.29lakh (Delhi, ex-showroom),this hatchback is among the cheapest diesel cars in the country.

The Beat diesel will compete withmodels such as the Tata Indica eV2 – the only diesel small car that is cheaperthan itself at Rs 3.95 lakh – besides the Ford Figo and Maruti Suzuki's Swiftand Ritz.

“We have launched the car nationallytoday. Though the market is a bit sluggish right now, we hope to sell up to 5,000units in a month of the diesel Beat,” said Mr P. Balendran, Vice-President, GMI.

THREE VARIANTS

The new diesel Beat will be availablein three variants, with prices stretching up to Rs 5.45 lakh. The top modelfeatures ABS and alloy wheels. The company claims that the new engine, whichhas been developed locally by GM's Bangalore-based technical centre, delivers amileage of 24 kmpl on the Beat.

Powered by the smallest diesel enginein the market – the turbocharged 1 litre XSDE Smartech, the Beat diesel isexpected to generate significant volumes for GMI. With 1,500 orders already inplace, the company expects combined monthly sales of the petrol and dieselmodels to now touch 7,000 units.

In the industry, sales of dieselmodels have an around 80 per cent share wherever they are available, largelybecause of cheaper running costs since the Government-controlled diesel pricesare much lower than petrol.

“We want to double the industrymarket growth. So if the industry is growing at 12-15 per cent, our sales willgrow at 24 per cent,” Mr Karl Slym, President and MD, GMI said. Anotherofficial added that sales this year should cross 1.4 lakh units – it sold 1.1lakh units in 2010.

The US-based manufacturer, whichinaugurated a new engine plant at its Talegaon facility last year, is currentlymanufacturing around 6,000 diesel engines and 3,000 petrol engines a month. Thecompany also has plans to start engine exports from the plant, while launchingmore diesel models of other cars in its range, an official said.

MORE OUTLETS SOON

GM, which plans to launch around sixnew products over the next two years, hopes to add 50 more sales outlets byyear-end to its existing 250 dealerships. These will mostly be in smaller towns.An updated Tavera multi-utility vehicle will also be launched by end-2011.
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