New Beat diesel

General Motors India is still basking in the glory of success of its latest small car model Chevrolet Beat. The car is currently available with petrol engine only and has a waiting period of more than three weeks. Looking at the success of the model, GM India is now planning to introduce the diesel variant of Chevrolet Beat in India by early 2011.

Ford has recently launched its small car model Figo in India and is already present with diesel option. Moreover, models from Hyundai and Maruti that compete strongly with Chevrolet Beat also have their diesel models in the market which strongly compels GM India to bring the diesel variant of its new small car. “The one-liter diesel engine will be rolled-out from Talegaon early next year for our small car, Beat,” says General Motors India Vice-President (Sales, Marketing & Services) Ankush Arora. This manufacturing plant at Talegaon has a capacity to produce 1,60,000 engines. "By August-September both the Talegaon and Halol (near Ahmedabad) manufacturing plants will be operating to full shifts," he said. General Motors also intends to ramp up its production of models like Chevrolet Beat and Chevrolet Cruze.

source:cartradeindia

So what happened to their plans to bring in the GM 1.3 Diesel engine which is also seen in the Swift & Ritz?  The Talegaon plant was supposed to be producing the 1.3 engine for GM's use.

Good decission by GM. But I am sure they need to compete with lots of other cars which is not a easy job.

@Steeroid - seems to be either some change of plans or a mistake in the source of this information. 

@Gerald - since they are not new entrants it would not be that difficult. Cars like spark and beat petrol have been doing pretty well. So GM would not have a problem squeezing a new diesel version

The outside viibility is not good for rear pasangers. So, I don t like this car at all, even the diesel version released..

Well,Beat's sales are settling around 2700 per month.They definitely need a diesel engine.

We do not have any official news of Beat Diesel .

However, GM needs to introduce the diesel ASAP, since the hatch back market is growing rapidly & will have to compete with the new bench mark, the Ford Figo. True VFM

Guys,

Check out this link for info about Chevy Beat Diesel

http://indianautosblog.com/2011/06/svp-unwraps-the-chevrolet-beat-diesel

Every car of GM is a piece of junk... i own a spark ... only thing that is +ve about the car is its space and comfort. . fuel economy will not go beyond 10-11 kmpl in city no matter what ever you do and with a.c on and full load car is just as sluggish as a 100cc bike.... a.c is either not good. .  bolts started to rust within 4 months of purchasing what's more braking is spongy.... and same is the case with beat petrol ... i purchased SPARK and one of my friend got BEAT ... we both regret but one +ve thing about beat is (acc to my friend) its milage is 13 kmpl in city ...   i heard BEAT DIESEL might be having 58ps of power .... means it will be more sluggish than my SPARK ..... Will never buy a Chevrolet product again....

you cant compare a petrol to a diesel car. Diesel cars with engines of the same (or even slightly higher) capacity of their petrol counterparts would always be sluggish. 

Its pretty strange that you are getting such low F.E. numbers from the spark. Have you checked this with the Chevy A.S.S.C guys? if not then better get the car checked and ask them for an explanation on the low F.E. numbers. Most of the problems you mention can be rectified by the A.S.S.C. So drive straight to them and puke all your problems in their face so that they are forced to take you seriously and rectifiy the issues.

Between what method are you using to calculate F.E.?