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-   -   Chevy Spark @ 2.89 lacs. With air-con! Now 2.66 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/35043-chevy-spark-2-89-lacs-air-con-now-2-66-a-6.html)

Saw an ad in Bangalore Times today welcoming Vijai Auto as the new GM dealer for Bangalore. I was expecting the announcement to come with more pomp and show!

Vasudeva , had it been such a bad story as being told by you , GM cars sale would not have gone up by over 64 % in 2007 over 2006. There are people who are willing to trust GM. It is not easy for a late starter in India like GM to match the sale of Maruti and Santro. This time GM appears to be serious enough , which is clear from the fact they have established a research centre in India , their second manufacturing plant is coming up near Pune. they have aimed to get 10% of total car sales in time to come. though you are free to keep your ideas , but we need to see things and evaluate them with open eyes . Alto with aprice tag of 3.30 lacs (Lxi on road in Mumbai) , do you think it is more value than spark PS (3.66L on road) . spark any day is better ,take body , space inside , ride comfort AC , safety features , tubeless tyres, remote opening of fuel fill, more powerful engine to name a few. already more than 100 service centres have come up. I know in Mumbai , though they are not increasing the sale points but 2-3 more service centers are coming up. so i think this time GM is quite keen on penetrating in Indian market.

Evaluate them with open eyes. Plans, discounts, etc are one thing. How about my comments after evaluating them with 5 lakhs of my money, and 55 months of ownership.

Maybe GM has changed its spots, but only time will tell. The past also tells something about the company. 67% growth in 2007. Let me not say anything, but let's see 2008. Do you seriously think that selling 2500-3000 cars per month in a segment of 75-80000 is a sign of success, or customer acceptance, or profitability.

GM came before Hyundai. Honda and Toyota came after GM. See their sales.

Last year, GM thought of an aggressive marketing tactic in the US.

GM put up a Camry and Accord at each of its Saturn dealerships around the country and encouraged car buyers to test-drive the vehicles side-by-side. The move resulted in a sales decline for Saturn's Aura (which competes with Camry and Accord), and GM soon ended the effort. It also scrapped a plan to have Chevy dealers keep Camrys and Accords on hand to compare against the new Malibu sedan that arrived later in 2007.

Are you sure about on-road price of spark?

As per site, its Ex-showroom price is 3.5L for [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2]Spark 1.0[/SIZE][/FONT] (Chevrolet Spark)

On top of that, add 9k for Octroi, 30k for RTO, 14k for Insurance

And price seems to be close to 4L

SPARK? I just took a test drive today.(LS model) ........the wonder thing i have seen is, even in fifth gear we can drive below 10km speed, car won't stop!!! . Not comfortable seating as swift but driving pleasure is very good... I liked it...

Read today in paper that GM will refund excise duty difference if ExDuty is reduced in budget. This is applicable to people who book in Feb 2008

3.66L is the discounted price (on road) at which spark PS is available at mumbai.

Good that they shall refund excise duty differential, if any applicable. This was done last year also.

as far as i know GM is no 4 in car sales after maruti , santro, Tata

Fine. Statistics. Figure this for GM's market share in 2007:

Spark/UVA: 3% share, position: 4th out of 6 (ahead of Fiat and Ford)
Aveo: 2.9%, 8th out of 9 (ahead of Fiat again)
Optra: 1.9%, 4th out of 7 (ahead of BMW vow, Merc vow vow, and Hyundai vow to be after them and lead them)
Tavera: 9.2%

No. 4 in which month. For 2007, they were 5th because they got volumes from Spark and UVA, whose market share position anyway has been given above.

For Jan 2008?: 6th
For Nov 2007 and Dec 2007 perhaps: 5th.

Perhaps in sales value, they would be large. Which gets more sales value: 3000 Sparks sold at 3-4 lakhs, or 3000-4000 City sold at 7-8 lakhs, or 4000 Innovas sold at 8 lakhs.

Perhaps in profits, where GM is definitely the largest worldwide, in terms of losses.

Perhaps GM is definitely large in stock market capitalisation, that is present value of future earnings.

These are the market capitalisation in US$ billion (these change by the minute but normally do not change by many billions in a day, except on days when GM announces its quarterly earnings):

GM 13.7 MARUTI 5.8 TOYOTA 176 HONDA 111 DAIMLER 87 FORD 13.2 TATA 6.8

What this means that Toyota sells almost the same number of cars as GM, but is valued at 15 times more. Honda is valued at 8.5 times more. Also of interest is that Tata Motors is at 6.8b. Ratan Tata can raise another 6-7 billion (not difficult for him) and buy GM lock, stock, and whole stinking barrel.

Question is: would he want that.

Vasudeva , while appreciating your info level , your comments are chosen ones ( selected piece of info ) for the purpose of proving a point (bashing GM) . No further comments from my side . be happy with what you think.