Auto India, Car India

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There is some good news for customers who are looking to buy a Chevrolet Beat, now they can own the GM’s premium hatchback without worries of the ever escalating petrol prices. Say hello to the new Chevrolet Diesel Beat! The same looks, the same driving pleasure and the same attitude, surprisingly at a lower running cost. The diesel version of the Beat will be launched in Mumbai on July 25, 2011.

The President and Managing Director of General Motors India, Karl Slym confirmed the launch date while speaking to the media in Coimbatore. An ecstatic Slym told the reporters that the car is specially designed to cater to the taste of the Indian consumers. Although, Slym did not comment about the cost of the vehicle, he told reporters that it would have a 1L diesel engine and an improved ground clearance level.  He said: “With fluctuation in fuel prices in India from time to time, the new diesel Beat, the prices of which will be announced at the launch will revolutionise the small car segment, with its engine capacity and fuel economy.”

When asked about the company’s future plans, Slym said that the company has already invested approximately 1.5 Billion US dollars in India and plans to invest about 250 Million US dollars each in their two plants Halol and Talegaon over the next 18 months. Slym also added that GM has established their design, manufacturing and development capabilities in India and owing to that they have become the fifth largest car manufacturer in India.

On the plans of making GM’s India Design Centre as an outsourcing hub Slym said that of the 2,500 strong workforce, nearly 90 percent engineers work for the international projects of Renault. He also said that the workforce is growing at 25 percent annually.

Speaking about the production capability of Renault in India, he said that 98 percent of the cars produced in India are sold in Indian markets, only a meager 2 percent is exported to neighbouring coutries such as Srilanka. The company which sold around 1.1 lakh cars in India last year has Aveo, Beat, Spark, Captiva, Cruze and Optra Magnum in its fleet.