[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by musicmanaman

... if Beat comes out with a Diesel, than again I would prefer the Beat over the Figo as far as the driving experience goes, something about driving the Beat, it just feels so right, but got to admit the Figo diesel engine is a gem, but I don't like the seating position and suspension wise I think the Beat is much better. I soo wish the Beat had the Figo diesel engine.

As per CarWale, Beat will come in Diesel and LPG in early 2011.

Chevrolet Beat Diesel in India - Launch Date: Early 2011 - Upcoming Car - CarWale

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by rki2007

You have misunderstood. What i said was i am not interested in Beat because of the reason that the resale value may be very low down the lane for about 6-7 yrs

I got it, what i was trying to say was, the Beat as a brand may extinct in 6/7 years. If that happens, probably you wont be able to sell at all, forget the resale value. I wish i am wrong here.

Originally Posted by theoriginal9321

Sorry, I didnt get your point, do mean the car Beat would be replaced or chevrolet (the brand) itself would get replaced? Does chevy have a chinese partner?

GM India, is a 50:50 joint venture between GM USA and SAIC of China. GM realized, it needs different cars for India and dont want to spend money for India specific cars. Instead they will use the expertise of their partner SAIC. In the short term, GM India will introduce cars from its chinese partner. You could read this article for more details GM Will Take on Suzuki in India With SAIC's China Cars - BusinessWeek.

GM has struggled in India since entering in 1994, with its Chevrolet models accounting for only about 5 percent of car sales in Asia’s second-fastest growing major economy. GM and Shanghai-based SAIC will start selling models in India next year that are similar to those now sold in China, Kevin Wale, GM’s China president, said in an interview. The alliance will challenge Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the nation’s largest carmaker with a 41 percent market share, and Tata Motors Ltd., maker of the world’s cheapest car, the Nano.
“The Indian market is very similar to the Chinese market,” Wale, who is based in Shanghai, said last month. “They also have a need for a lot of products that have already or are being developed for the Chinese market.”
The partners may introduce as many as three light commercial vehicles and two passenger cars in India by 2012. The alliance also is targeting other developing markets. Last month, it started exporting Chevrolet Sail compacts made in Shandong, China, to Chile and Peru. The carmakers may ship elsewhere in Latin America, Egypt and the Middle East, Wale said.

So there is a very good chance that that Sail mayl replace Beat or become the next version of Beat.

[ambivalent_98]

I own a Beat and I just saw this thread and a good amount of "Beat"ing the car has been taking which is what I can see.
Well personally I feel the car is VFM and stylish. FE is fairly decent (I get a consistent 16 kpl in 100% city traffic) and it is a good and stable performer on highways. I do not agree though with the Indian mentality of fitting three adults in the back seat when most hatchback cars are 4 seaters and by this I mean the rear seated adults to be comfortable and able to move their limbs in relative comfort.
I wonder is that achieved by just throwing in a seat belt on the rear bench ? Is the third adult equally comfortable ?
A premium hatch like Polo also tends to get crowded when you load three adults in the back. But no one seems to complain there. Unfortunately the Maruti mind-set of Indian people will take many years to change in which hatch = 3 lakhs or less. Here are a few humorous insights (no offense meant to Maruti which is a great brand in itself and I owned an Alto myself).
-Acres of space inside.
-Three adults must sit behind in comfort and safety.
-The front must have a 6 foot driver and with his seat all the way back there should be so much legroom to cross the legs in front.
-No external style is necessary. Anything stylish different is looked at with skepticism
-A very large boot so that you can pick up your guest arriving from some phoren land and take their bags and put them in the humoungous boot.
- A good powerful A/c.
- A funky stereo with tweeters et al

And all this is 3 lakhs or less. Just amazing isn't it. Additions are welcome.

[myavu]

^^^ Me too own a Beat LT. OTR was 4.45 on May 16 2010. Had an extended warranty for fifth year. Also own a 2008 Feb UVA-LT and FIL having a April 2010 Figo Exi.

People who never own GM cars will always do this.

Beat is a fantastic car for it's size and price. Real value for money. UVA with almost 20K on ODO still like a brand new one and space and ride it offer will put some sedans in upper bracket to run for their money.

The only fault GM did was they didn't offer diesel for Beat and UVA out of the box.

Figo is a good car. I like the steering. But over all I like Beat with it's power, compact dimension, style and comfort.

Regards

Vinu

[rki2007]

I really don't understand what people are saying in this thread.
No one is complaining about the Beat. The main intention was differentiate the same from i 10 when the comparison between i10 and Beat arose.

People who are not willing to shell out that extra premium on i10 can readily accept the Beat when compared to Wagon R or Alto k10. If i were to choose one among the Alto K 10, Wagon R, Estilo or Beat, it is Beat without any doubt (Here again all the maruthi cars said above have excellent resale value when compared with Beat) .Had i got more money i would definitly go for i 10 over Beat any day.

[thedreamcatcher]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

I own a Beat and I just saw this thread and a good amount of "Beat"ing the car has been taking which is what I can see.
Well personally I feel the car is VFM and stylish. FE is fairly decent (I get a consistent 16 kpl in 100% city traffic) and it is a good and stable performer on highways. I do not agree though with the Indian mentality of fitting three adults in the back seat when most hatchback cars are 4 seaters and by this I mean the rear seated adults to be comfortable and able to move their limbs in relative comfort.
I wonder is that achieved by just throwing in a seat belt on the rear bench ? Is the third adult equally comfortable ?
A premium hatch like Polo also tends to get crowded when you load three adults in the back. But no one seems to complain there. Unfortunately the Maruti mind-set of Indian people will take many years to change in which hatch = 3 lakhs or less. Here are a few humorous insights (no offense meant to Maruti which is a great brand in itself and I owned an Alto myself).
-Acres of space inside.
-Three adults must sit behind in comfort and safety.
-The front must have a 6 foot driver and with his seat all the way back there should be so much legroom to cross the legs in front.
-No external style is necessary. Anything stylish different is looked at with skepticism
-A very large boot so that you can pick up your guest arriving from some phoren land and take their bags and put them in the humoungous boot.
- A good powerful A/c.
- A funky stereo with tweeters et al

And all this is 3 lakhs or less. Just amazing isn't it. Additions are welcome.

Very well said. And right on. It is purely this maruti mentality that is widely prevalent in our country, where people want much much more for less.

Brings me back to validate what i said earlier, for people who are buying their first car or are going in for an upgrade will prefer to goin for maruti, hyundai or tata, why, because there are numerous service centers and A.S.S is very widely available. For them, GM is still an unproven brand and want the mileage car.

Every single point u mentioned below is also very true. these are the inital things they look for. And suddenly something like a Polo seems very good, because they feel it is a premium brand, so car is great. When abroad, these are cars i have never even thought of looking at even the first time. Now, the VW Scirocco is a different ball game altogether, but not something like a polo.

Now take this, VW Polo highline, with all its cost etc, still does not have aux or usb for its stereo. VFM??

[KreativeGeek]

I have stopped giving gyaan about Beat to some people whom i know and whom sometimes i encounter just for the same reason, they either feel jealous of Beat owners, and feel deep within that their brain is programmed to follow a herd, and just buy a Maruti or Hyundai brand car for its A.S.S and Mileage without realising that it is not the same story everywhere in terms of A.S.S and mileage would all depend on your driving style.

A lot of time people buy car to make feel proud of themselves when they can fit 3 people easily on the back seat, unless you are having a strong family which goes out on regular outings together, for which an SUV or a sedan makes sense, i hardly find any reason to go for a large car in case you are going to travel alone for most of the time and with a nuclear family Beat is no small car.

Every car is going to have a pros and cons, i dont mind people bragging about their cars, it's normal with Indian customers to brag extensively about what they own, but when they start cribbing about Beat on it's boot space, rear window styling and even about stuff which they do not know about cars and they could have heard it from some other "Mr Know it all" it gets me irritated as i refrain from pointing out cons about their brand.

When it comes to buying cars we are still at a stage when people just brought Bajaj for two wheelers, Nokia for mobile phones.

It would take longer time for people to break free of Maruti and Hyundai brands, experimenting with the new is something that does not come easy with Indian consumers, one has to throw in lot of freebies, add-ons and stuff to attract them to buy, still they would keep cribbing and asking for more in less.

I was not surprised to see Ford Figo getting listed as Indian Car of the Year 2011, and last year Maruti Ritz featured in that list becasue the common factor here is that both these cars were a hit in sales numbers due to their deisel version also being available. People have got access to easy finance and they prefer to take advantage of subsidy on Diesel as a fuel buying these versions of cars.

Chevrolet Beat has being ranked 2nd on JD Power Asia awards list 2010 for Premium Compact car segment below Honda Jazz and above Maruti Swift, Figo does not even feature on this list.

When it comes to comparing Beat with Volkswagen Polo or with Punto, it falls in a different segment and price point altogether. So it is also not Fair to compare Beat with these cars.

I have got used to kids staring at my Beat curiously from their cars, two wheelers and pedestrians giving a variety of looks on their faces looking at my Beat on road in Pune, i have overheard sometimes comments like "Badhiya gaadi hai" "Cool dikhti hai" stopping by the traffic signal recently overheard a mother asking her daughter riding on two wheeler "Kaunsi gaadi hai yeh, accha styling hai, andar glow hoti hai kya?"

Almost a year after it's launch now, this car still looks fresh and lively on road, in reality there would be always a big chunk of people who would drive the cars that other's drive, it takes an effort to change our own view to accept brands like Chevrolet and Fiat which still have a niche market and low consumer acceptance currently against Maruti and Hyundai.

[aniketi]

Customer is always king !!! People buy what they want. In India most of the people wants VFM cars only. Thats the reason Maruti cars are so successful. No point in saying this car is good or that car is bad. All cars available in the market are good & have there own pros & cons. Even i like Indica Xeta. For 3.2 L on road Pune as of today you cant expect more from that car. Finally you will get what you pay. Just make sure that you pay more & dont get that much worth. Jago Grahak Jago ...

[auto-one]

Yes, the Beat is a good city car. And the soon to be launched LPG and diesel options would certainly increase the VFM factor.
However, I have to add one thing. GM could do better by adding more features to the car. Only then it would become a more competitive package. Else the car would soon lose its appeal and instead of VFM, it would become a 'cheap' car, which would badly affect the sales.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by teamveevee

Are you sure Beat (the brand) will be around for 6-7 years? There is a good chance Beat will be replaced with a cheap model from its Chinese partner.

Firstly, no one will replace an existing car before its time is due, because of the development costs. Second, the Octavia has been discontinued...yet you should check the resale of used Octavia diesels in the market. They hold their value incredibly well. The Beat is well priced out of the box and I certainly won't say that its resale will be a killer. Third, if the Spark is anything to go by, the Beat has atleast a 7 year life ahead of it.

Lets focus on facts, rather than unfounded speculation of what will happen to the nameplate after 7 years! Heck, I bet even Chevy doesn't know that yet.

Originally Posted by rki2007

People who are not willing to shell out that extra premium on i10 can readily accept the Beat when compared to Wagon R or Alto k10.

Not really. Someone who wants good ride quality will choose the Beat over the i10, irrespective of what they cost new. The i10 - especially at the rear - has a very bumpy ride.

Originally Posted by auto-one

And the soon to be launched LPG and diesel options would certainly increase the VFM factor.

Chevy has priced the petrol Beat well; that leaves it enough room to give the diesel a competitive price tag. A diesel Beat will easily double the current sales levels.

[ampere]

Add to that the Beat diesel on cards very soon! That should also add to numbers quite a bit.

[Joy]

I fail to understand, why people with access to net and all technology is bashing a good car. I personally own a Beat LT, apart from re-sale value, I am not concerned about anything and why should I? I love my car as my family as most TBHP'ians and I am not at present thinking to part with my family. It is a lovely car and true VFM and I love it. I had a budget of around 5L and I found Beat to be real VFM after checking i-10, Figo (Petrol), Maruti Ritz, Maruti Swift, etc. As somebody has rightly said, here in India, only Maruti and Hyundai makes cars, others are just fooling around.

If sales figure makes or breaks a car, I think it's time we should know what is the sales figure between the nearest competitor (both VFM): Beat (Petrol) and Figo (Petrol). If any TBHP'ians think in a cool head, compare price vs feature of these cars I mentioned above, it will come down to these two (Beat & Figo).

Anyway, everybody has his/her opinion to choose his/her car and I have chosen mine and no regrets.

[gemithomas]

The BEAT is a wonderful car at its price. The NVH levels at high speeds cannot be matched by any other car in the segment. In LT mode its the most VFM car around. But then...Good cars have never really sold well in the indian market. :(