[IshaanIan]

I simply love the Beat. It drives extremely well for a city car. It is easy to drive, fun to drive, is zippy at low speeds, has decent ride quality, handles well, is extremely chuck-able, is easy to place in traffic and even today manages to look fresh and funky. If they offered slightly better motors that were capable beyond the 80kmph mark, and really worked on their after sales service, I think they still have a great product on their hands. Whether or not it will revive the brand in India, is debatable.

[NiInJa]

As a Beat owner, I can say the car (as a product) was much ahead of its competition in terms of build quality, fit and finish when we bought it in 2012. And yes, so far there haven't been any major issues with the car. I am in love with her.

So would I buy the Beat again ? Yes, only if it was the next generation car sold in developed markets and only if Chevvy's after sales service was much better spread.

Truth is, GM has accepted defeat in Indian market and they are slowly shifting their focus towards exporting out of India and the Indian market is only to show their foot-print as a foot-note to the higher management in US.

Such a Loser !

[Mithrandir]

Originally Posted by GTO

GM apparently thinks that the new Beat / Spark is only for 'developed markets'.


Source

Treat India like a 3rd-rate country and we'll treat you like a 3rd-rate company, GM. Learn from Hyundai, LEARN!

GM's never managed to sell European (Astra, Corsa) or Chinese (Sail, Enjoy) products in India. Going by earlier sales of the Spark, Beat & Cruze, you'd think they hit the sweet spot with Korean-engineered cars. Sadly, GM is botching up that strategy too.

My sentiments exactly. GM India never fails to disappoint. Beat was their only model in India which had some attraction. It was something unique. But now they are killing it too. This could be the last nail on the coffin. If they are too reluctant to consider Hyundai as a worthy competitor globally, then they should at-least take a leaf out of Ford's book. Ford rolled out two successful models (EcoSport, Figo) back to back, beside a competent Fiesta and hopefully Mustang in future. This shows that Ford is taking Indian market seriously. In next 10 years when Indian car market will develop into an all new level, GM will have to only watch from sidelines and despair.

[Mafia]

I think they lost the plot when they replaced the Sonic with Sail. dud after dud from a company with such an extensive portfolio. It is amazing. 'How to FAIL' seems to be mantra for them right now.

The 2017 Beat (Spark) looks so mature and about the right product to introduce in India in the most competitive car segment.

[Sudeep_Kimster]

This company(GM) is headed HM way.

They have competitive products World Wide, especially from Europe and some in USA.

They really have lost the plot to understand the sentiments of Indian Customers.
Other European & US OEMs are launching home grown products (eg. Renault Kwid & Ford Figo/Ka), and then there's GM, who plan to keep reiteration of their existing product.

I personally feel the below products of GM sold under brand names of Vauxhall and Chevrolet somewhere around the world will be very competitive and enhance GM's brand name in India

Vauxhall Corsa:


Vauxhall Adams:


Vauxhall Astra(European Car of the Year)


Vauxhall Mokka ( A true Creta Challenger)


Chevy Sonic (Elite i20 challenger)


C'mon Chevrolet, give these babies of yours a chance to show what they are on Indian Soil for Indian Customers.

Wish my post can help them

[veyron_head]

Originally Posted by GTO

Has GM India gone mad?

.

Ha ha! That's quite some venting out!, completely justified though!

This is hardly a facelift, let alone, an 'all-new'. The design is identical to the last iteration. See the difference between the last gen i20 and the elite. That, is all-new! Is GM really hoping to sell this and be successful in India? I have a feeling they are deliberately doing this to pack their bags.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Mafia

I think they lost the plot when they replaced the Sonic with Sail.

Still understandable (but not justified) back then because General Motors India was a 50-50 venture between GM and Chinese SAIC and they were obviously trying to promote the Chinese versions in India.

Currently 93% GM and 7% SAIC.

They only have themselves to blame. GM probably forgetting that the Chinese have nothing much to lose here as it's the Chevrolet brand name that's getting tarnished.

[landcruiser123]

Stupidest move I've heard of. Why do we Indians get the same old car?

Originally Posted by mukul32

I won't be surprised by that. The way we keep buying only Marutis and Hyundais on and on and on, no matter what the rivals have to offer, anybody could lose confidence in this market.

I agree that we buy a lot of Maruti and Hyundai cars. The cars are good and we're assured of good quality ASS.
Nothing wrong with GM cars, but their service network sucks.

I would also like to point out that a good product can sell. Example: Renault Kwid. It changed the fortunes of Renault overnight.

Seems like GM just wants to sell cars just for the sake of selling. Their main aim might be to keep exporting models to other countries.

[7heaven]

Loved your comments GTO Sir. Don't know why majority of the car companies try to take us for a ride ! ( pun intended ) Always short changing us by giving us all their unwanted products and treating our country like a 2nd hand market.

Hope GM India wakes up and notes all our feedback... and bring some sense into their products.

[arnabchak]

Its Dead meat for GM!!

Why are you flogging old dead stuff?
India has now transgressed from a "pichda hua pradesh" to a well developed and reasonably mature market.

GM has good productsint in the US. They have the R&D funds and a long stint in India.
But, unfortunately, all their decisions have failed logic.

The Opel was a good brand and they could not capitalise the initial success of the Astra.
Chevy gave good cars like the Optra and the Cruze.
Infact, Cruze, during initial months was the leader of the pack for the D Segment.

Yet, they failed to capitalise.
Beat started "upbeat". Then lost steam and fell in the black hole.

The strategy should have been to get the Sonic twins. What we got was the SAIC Sails.
Another flawed strategy was to have no presence in the voluminous A segment after resting the Spark.

There is no strategy and that is what is hurting.
And now, we are about to witness another blunder in the Beat offering.

Like Rush has correctly stated, would be more prudent to relaunch the erstwhile flagship Astra than to relaunch the Beat!

[Sarath_MoJa]

Seems Apple and GM have the same Brainy Marketing Managers who always think how to sell their Refurbished products in India. Indian Market is much more dynamic and beyond the grasp of these brains

[King_pin09]

Originally Posted by mukul32

I won't be surprised by that. The way we keep buying only Marutis and Hyundais on and on and on, no matter what the rivals have to offer, anybody could lose confidence in this market.

A Honda would've sold their same Cruze, Hyundai the same Captiva, and Toyota the same Trailblazer, in absolute truckloads. And won hearts of people while at that.

Even in this particular case, GM simply can't be assured of getting returns should they launch the new Beat here. If a Figo with a proper Hyundaiesque appeal and class busting engine and equipment barely makes four digits a month, what is the chance of a Beat surviving here?

You have brought out some wonderful thoughts over here. Agreed that most of us Indians in general believe in buying a Maruti / Hyundai as a "safe game" strategy. At the same time it’s hard to justify that offerings from other manufacturers is being largely overlooked. Had it been the case, our market would have not whole heartedly embraced products like Duster, Ecosport, Kwid, which came from manufacturers who were relatively unheard of given the storming presence of Marutis’ and Hyundais’. Even the “Tavera” which comes from Chevy’s stable has been quite successful and still finds buyers in three digits, even after a decade of being in our market. The Fortuner, Endeavour, Old Figo, Corolla, all sing songs of success.

The new Figo / Aspire simply lack the typical build and handing characteristics to which Fords are usually associated (read no Ford DNA in them). No wonder they bombed in our market. You may recall that Skoda (and VW as well), in its initial days after entering into Indian market, had built up reputation of being a premium brands. An image that Maruti and Hyundai could only dream of, but have never been able to impersonate. Skoda shot the bullet in its own foot by its shoddy sales and after sales performance. Key components of their cars turned out to be utter unreliable even as the warranty claims were not honoured.

Better, reliable and reasonably priced products are always accepted by our market.

[VaibhaoT]

I am a Beat owner. I must agree that its a wonderful car. I am happy that I preferred it over i10 & Wagon-R. Each time I look at my car from outside, it give me a big smile.
But as other members mentioned here, I think GM is working like they have already lost game in India.
Their ASS is pathetic. In a city like Pune, there is only one active service provider. I heard that other one is in process of establishing the infrastructure.
Only silver lining for me is, I am yet to experience VW/Skoda like horror stories. Dealer takes escalation very seriously & they make sure problem is resolved.
Hope they bring more cars in India & improve upon ASS.

[vinya_jag]

My mom fries papad, and then 're-uses the same oil to make Dose the next couple of days. And the Dose then tastes awkward. I feel, GM treats us the same way

[zavegur]

They should have made this a better launch, its a shame GM still wants to be perceived the same way. The products are not bad actually, I've driven a Beat Diesel some 3 years back and was very enjoyable as a driver- chuckable, easy to drive, doesnt shy away from 110+, smark package, AC was decent. But to see the same again after 3 years in an update is a shame really.

Chevrolet has some good quality cars- we had the Aveo for about 3 years- good car, never let us down, service was a pain but still was a decent family car. GM have their work cut-out, yes it is difficult to fight against the Maruti and Hyundai but its not gonna work out unless they have a solid product offering.

GM should listen in and act.

Z