General Motors India is planning to introduce the diesel variant of its latest small car model Chevrolet Beat. Its current strong competitor Ford Figo already has a diesel variant in the market and so do Hyundai and Maruti. Chevrolet does not want to lose out on capitalising the diesel market in India which makes it ramp up its plans to introduce the diesel variant of Chevrolet Beat.
"We will introduce the diesel variant of 'Beat' soon," General Motors India Vice-President P Balendran said. "We are planning to launch it in the first quarter of 2011 (calender year)," he added. Chevrolet Beat was launched at the Delhi Auto Expo 2010 earlier this year in January. The model currently has a waiting period of 30-40 days. General Motors reported total sales of 69,579 units last year and expects to cross one lakh sales figure this year.
The major growth in company sales comes from Spark, say company officials. Out of 69,579 units sold last year, 30,000 units were of Spark and this year the model has witnessed a growth of 113 percent. Chevrolet currently offers diesel variant of its sedan model Cruze and denies any plans to introduce the petrol model of the same.
