General Motors India (GMI), on July 25, 2011, launched the Chevrolet Beat Diesel car in New Delhi with a price range of Rs. 4,29,000 – Rs. 5,45,000 (ex-showroom). It is being claimed by the company that the new car delivers a mileage of 24 kilometres per litre, the second highest in the Indian car industry after Tata Indica eV2. Although, the car has been launched during a slowdown in car sales in India, GMI plans to sell around 4,500-5,000 units of the diesel variant each month and aims at selling 1,40,000 units in the year 2011.
The launch is in sync with the company’s decision to increase the capacity of its plant at Halol to 1,10,000 units from the previous 85,000 units. Like all other carmakers, GMI also hopes for the car sales to recover in the upcoming festival season during the months of August and September, 2011.