2011 Chevrolet Beat LPG
On the back of the launch of the designed-and-made-in-India 1.2 Liter SMARTECH petrol engine for the Chevrolet Beat, Karl Slym of GM India made a bunch of very interesting announcements on upcoming General Motors products for the Indian market. Kicking off as early as next week, GM India will launch the LPG version Chevrolet Beat.
Set to be priced slightly higher than the petrol version of the Beat, the Beat LPG will deliver brilliant fuel economy and might just prove to be the best bet to battle the rising petrol prices as LPG still remains significantly cheaper than petrol.
The Beat LPG will be a dual fuel car, much like the Maruti WagonR Duo, which means that switching between petrol and LPG as fuel sources will be possible. That feature will make it very convenient for folks who frequently do interstate trips as LPG still remains largely unavailable outside the major metros and big cities. Apart from the Beat LPG, the next big launch will be that of the diesel engined Chevrolet Beat sometime in June-July 2011. While GM India remained tight lipped about the specifications of the Beat Diesel’s engine, we anticipate it to be a sub one liter three cylinder CRDI unit. The Beat Diesel is expected to come with a INR 50,000 premium over the petrol version.
Apart from these two major announcements, GM India will also unveil a concept electric vehicle for India come April 2011 and a smaller SUV sitting under the Chevrolet Captiva SUV. We’re hoping that the electric concept vehicle is somewhat similar to the once-very-promising Chevrolet Spark Electric project, which currently has been shelved, ever since Mahindra acquired Reva Electric Vehicles. The smaller SUV could be targeted at the Tata Aria and the upcoming Mahindra W210 World SUV. Meanwhile, a lot of buzz has been generated in India for the Chevrolet Volt and the Chevrolet Camaro.
But, unfortunately, both these cars won’t see an Indian launch until GM manages to develop Right Hand Drive versions of these popular cars, and going by that statement, we don’t expect the Camaro-Volt brigade anytime too soon. All in all, GM India is aiming to launch 6 new car models with 14 fuel variants in the next two years and this would in all probability include the Sonic Sedan and Hatchback duo to replace the Chevrolet Aveo and U-VA respectively. That, pretty much sums up General Motors India’s plans for the next couple of years.
source: indiancarsbikes.in
