On Monday, GM rolled out its new small car Beat, priced (entry model) aggressively at Rs 3.34 lakh, below rivals like Hyundai’s i10 and Maruti’s Ritz and Swift.
The 1.2-litre petrol-engine Beat is GM’s most ambitious bid at the big-number compact segment and India MD Karl Slym said the model was likely to sell between 4000 and 5000 models a month, which would make it GM’s highest-selling model here.
“The Beat can be a real game changer in the Indian mini-car segment,” Slym said.
Beat, positioned over GM’s mini car Spark, carries 60% localisation now, which will go up to 90% by the year-end. For GM, this is the second significant launch in India over the last six months, after it drove in the Cruze sedan in October last year.
GM India, that earlier this year witnessed fall in sales on the back of bankruptcy news of its US parent, has off late been making attempts to get higher numbers here and get a bigger share in line with the growth of the market.
Demand for the company’s cars has been picking up over the last few months and in December it sold 8258 units over the 4041 units it sold in December 2008, driving in a growth of 104%. This was also the highest-ever monthly sales figure achieved by the company since its inception.
The company has lined up new growth plans for India, like launch of an electric version of the Spark that it is making with Bangalore’s Reva Electric Car Co. Also, it plans to have light commercial vehicles and mini cars from its Chinese joint venture with SAIC.
Slym said the company expects sales in India to exceed 100,000 vehicles in 2010, helped by the introduction of the Beat.
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