At the February held Auto Expo event in the country, Chevrolet stands was one place where true Manchester United fans were in for a pure visual treat. The carmaker showcased special Manchester United edition of Chevrolet Beat and U-VA at the event. The association dates back to 2012 when General Motors signed Seven year pact for t-shirts with the popular football team. The result of the deal is effective from the new EPL 2014 – 15 season.
The recently launched Chevrolet Beat facelift is powered by 1.2 Litre petrol and 1.0 Litre diesel engine. Speculations have been doing rounds that an automatic transmission variant may also be launched sometime later. For now, Beat's engine has been mated to a 5 speed manual transmission. The petrol hatchback features a SMARTECH II engine that has been mated with Port Deactivation technology, empowering the car to generate about 79.4 bhp maximum power output with 108 Nm of torque. This engine has claimed to deliver a fuel efficiency of up to 18.6 kmpl. The diesel version features an efficient XSDE SMARTECH Common Rail diesel engine that generates about 57.6 bhp of maximum power with 150 Nm of top torque. The diesel version returns an impressive mileage of 25.44 kmpl. As per a latest update, the special Manchester United Edition of Chevrolet Beat shall be launched in June this year.
The recently launched hatchback features an upgraded bumper that looks a bit bigger than the earlier version. The front grille looks smarter and the roof spoiler adds up to its sporty quotient. The interior is different too as it takes on a new center console, the storage space is now bigger and looks better with a change of color. A new set of alloy wheels compliment the new design pretty well. As per sources the face-lifted Chevrolet Beat shall also sport a central rear height-adjustable headrest. Petrol version of Beat starts from Rs 4.06 lakh to Rs 5.25 lakh, the LPG version starts at Rs 4.59 lakh, and the diesel hatchback version is priced between Rs 4.89 lakh and Rs 6.1 lakh.
Speaking more on declining sales, P. Balendran, Vice President, General Motors India said, “Customer sentiment continues to remain negative even with price reduction on account of excise duty cut and other market promotion schemes. Going by the market scenario, we expect the challenging times to continue as the general economic conditions continue to remain depressed. The buoyancy in the market is completely missing and we don’t see any market upturn before the new government assumes office.”
Source: RL
