BOB SHARE

All along, June 2011 was the anticipated launch month for the 2011 Chevrolet Beat Diesel, as confirmed by General Motors India officials themselves. However, there seems to be a slight delay in the Beat Diesel’s launch, which now will in July 2011. While we don’t know why exactly GM India has postponed the launch to July 2011, our sources tell us that the Beat Diesel is ready for launch with the conclusion of all the required testing and certification of the car.

When it will get launched, the Chevrolet Beat Diesel is expected to be cheapest entry level Diesel car in the Indian market, even under cutting the Tata Indica eV2. The launch of the Chevrolet Beat Diesel could also herald a new era of value priced diesel cars in India with fuel economy as the main selling point. This, as the petrol prices hovering at the INR 70/Liter mark has forced many car  manufacturers to do a major rethink on their car development plans as diesel engined cars are set to become the volume pullers in the near future.

So, a sub INR 4 Lakh price tag for the Chevrolet Diesel Beat could be a very strong possibility. The Beat Diesel will come with a 3 pot CRDI Engine producing 57 Bhp and 140 Nm of torque, tuned mainly for driveability and fuel economy. What remains to be seen is how smooth and vibe free the three pot diesel engine can be as most three cylinder engines suffer from higher vibration levels necessitating the use of a balancer shaft to keep the intrusive vibes away.

All said, the arrival of the Beat Diesel could do to General Motors India, what the Figo has been doing for Ford India. In short, create a big spurt in volumes which, at a time when car sales are experiencing a slowdown, could do a world of good. So, the Beat Diesel will essentially unleash the full potential of the zany looking small car whose sales, despite the availability of an LPG variant have been tepid to say the least.