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General Motors to launch diesel cars in India

As the price difference between petrol and diesel is gaping up widely and quickly, more and more customers in the Indian car market are turning towards the Diesel cars. General Motors has sensed an opportunity into it and has decided to launch diesel version of their popular cars to capture the demand arising. This month, General Motors will launch a diesel version of their extremely popular small car model, the Chevrolet Beat.

Similarly, the company is expected to launch diesel variants of their other models too. When asked about whether a diesel version of Chevrolet Spark will also arrive or not, Karl Slym, President and Managing Director of General Motors India said that if the customers demand for diesel cars, then the company may look into option of making the diesel version of their other cars available in the market. When he was queried about whether and if the company is looking to introduce diesel versions of entry level sedan Chevrolet Aveo and its hatchback sibling Chevrolet Aveo U-VA, he said that there is always a possibility of introduction of diesel variants in other segments. Chevrolet Aveo, at present comes in two versions, Petrol and CNG, whereas the hatchback Chevrolet Aveo UVA is available only in Petrol variant.

He added that the price gap between Petrol and Diesel has widened to Rs. 26 and thus the demand for diesel cars is rising day by day. He further added that they can not control what government does to the price of petrol. Only thing they can do is to change their plans to cater to the needs of the market. General Motors have a engine building plant at Talegaon, which is sufficient enough to cater to the current demand arising for the diesel vehicles.

Karl Slym said that there plant at Talegaon has a capacity of building 1.6 lakh units, and the plant can manufacture engines upto 1.5 L capacity. He added that the plant can work flexibally to produce both diesel and petrol engines. The Talegaon unit has produced the 1.0 L, three cylinder diesel engine of the newest diesel version of the Chevrolet Beat. Slym said that the technology has been imported from General Motors Europe, but the engine is specifically made for the Indian conditions. He said that the Diesel model of Chevrolet Beat is specifically for the Indian market and it won't be available anywhere else in the world. He however added in the end that their first priority although is the Indian car market but the company may look into exporting to the Diesel Chevrolet Beat to other markets also.

Some of the popular hatchback models in the Indian auto market are Toyota Etios Liva, Ford Figo, Maruti Swift, Hyundai i10 and Volkswagen Polo. Apart from these popular models, cars going to hit the Indian roads this year are Chevrolet Beat Diesel, Maruti Cervo and New Honda Brio.