[benbsb29]

GM has always blundered on the timely procurement of diesel engines for its cars, save for the Cruze, Optra and Captiva. Imagine what a good diesel motor would have done for the sales numbers of the Spark and this rubbing off on the Beat as well. Even the Aveo which is a fine car otherwise was let down by the absence of a diesel.

Once a perception of being a slow mover is built, then half the battle is lost, IMO.

Also, i feel the Beat looks a tad too flashy and in-your-face from the front. Similar looks worked on the Cruze, but doesnt seem to fit in well on the Beat.

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by unni_s

But it is not going to be easy because the BEAT and Spark have different lineage and some standardization will be required across the two platforms.

Beat is based on the same but evolved platform as spark.

Spark - M200 , M250
Beat - M300

Daewoo Matiz was M100

By lineage do you mean different target customers?

[ambivalent_98]

Hi Folks,
I own a Beat. I had an Alto earlier. Actually I did not want another Maruti product. So I test drove the i10 and the Beat. I was impressed by the looks and the general package. The boot space is small and I was aware of it while buying but the design is new and quite revolutionary. It is unlike the Spark which is a changed looks Matiz.
I drive a Honda but then I liked the Beat for its driveability in congested city traffic.
I did not look so much at the pick up because I ain't a race driver and the city I live in does not have so many big , empty roads on which 0-60 or 0-80 kph really matters.
What matters is that rear seat passengers should be comfortable and trust me they are. Also I have no intention of seating 3 ppl in the rear when it is meant for 2 + 2...Unfortunately our mentality is car = Maruti = sub 3.5 lakhs = good average.
Just my thoughts and don't mean to criticise anyone or any brand.

[nasa_hubble]

I believe a good number of sales require good marketing unless you have an Exceptionally VFM product.
The recent ad which states "TEST IT LIKE YOU OWN IT" does not convey the message properly.
What are they trying to convey? that you test drive their car, shake every part loose and that's it go home and think about another car.
Cars in India hold emotional value. just look at the Alto-800 ads, Figo ads, even the VW Brand Film.
A car should connect to the customer.

Also, the beat with its over aggressive looks, a not so spacious area behind the drivers seat, etc. is targeted at the youth.
The image it portrays does not connect it with family cars the way figo does, and if you look at the target market IMHO, its doing decent numbers. After all how many middle class college goers own cars.

[fz_rider]

I don't think Beat is underpowered as many of them are saying. It's got decent power and is at par competition in terms of power. The problem is , it isn't as refined and smooth as a K-series or a Kappa and the gearing is a bit tall.

[SPARKled]

The Beat being underpowered is a huge fallacy. In fact in a recent magazine test, the Beat was a the quickest to 100 among a lot of other modern petrol hatches sporting 1.2 L engines. I have said it before and am saying it again here. If GM wants it to sell it has to tone down some radical design elements. See the Figo. Its an uncle's hatch, but see how well its selling in households which can afford just 1 car. The Beat is way to jazzy to be a family hatch of choice. There is nothing wrong with the car. Infact I think its a lot more efficient and peppy than a Figo petrol.

[sachinj12]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Even the Aveo which is a fine car otherwise was let down by the absence of a diesel.

Once a perception of being a slow mover is built, then half the battle is lost, IMO.

When I was in the market, the sole reason I dropped out Aveo because it did not offer a Diesel heart.

IMO, Diesel factor plays a very crucial and pivotal role in our country.

[erohit]

IMHO Beat is doing ok-to-decent numbers given the history of GM. Remember last year GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and inspite of that GM India manage to hold the market and by introducing Cruze + Beat they increased their volume.

Beat is not a volume seller car primarily due to -
1) The very first reason is lack of Diesel engine. If you are not offering Diesel in India then you can't get good volumes barring Maruti and Hyundai. If you compare Figo petrol (Roughly 2K -3K), or even Ritz petrol (Roughly 3k-4k), or Polo petrol then people will realise that Beat numbers are not THAT bad on comparing petrol burner vs petrol burner.

2) The second reason is their marketing. They are targetting youth instead of family. That itself is wrong if you are looking for volumes. Figo is perfect example of good marketing.

3) GM/Chevrolet brand is way below Maruti, Hyundai or Tata.

4) People perception about BEAT is not good. If a person has to buy a car today he will think Maruti or Hyundai first.

Figo is success story primarily due to (1) VFM (2) Diesel (3) Space. It does not look great as Polo or Punto but it is not very aggressive and very different like Beat. Imagine without diesel engine Figo would be selling like 3K-4K to start with and eventually settled down to 2K-3K (something like Beat) primarily due to their OK petrol engine.

I have seen people bashing Toyota Etios in other forum on seeing some rough images. I can tell you the production version with metallic paint will make it look good (comparable to Figo) and toyota brand will make sure it is a success provided they price it properly.

[airbender]

Apart from diesel factor and cramped rear, chevy's plan to rebadge daewoo matiz as beat and plans for a chinese car rebadged as chevy are actually diluting the brand. This will also have an effect on chevy sales.

[alstonlobo]

I own a top end Beat LT and paid 4.8L for it. It comes fully loaded with Auto AC, cool blue lit dash and very high quality interior plastics no other car in its segment can match for its price, apart from a host of other features. This is strictly my opinion.

The reliability of the product is great that I did not find any issue, yes the second gear lag is there but that does not mean its underpowered. Underpowered can be termed for a car like Punto, which is built like a tank and has a small engine to match. The Beat can handle city conditions with ease. Driving on highways too is not a pain at all. It can even be driven on 4th gear at low speeds as 30kmph without any engine knocking.

Regarding interior space, I have seen the Beat's legroom to be far better than other cars in its segment. Yes the boot space is small, but that's to compensate for the rear legroom.

And every car has plus and minus points. Please read GTO's TD and Reviews on both the Beat and Figo, he's summarised points on 'What you will like' and 'What you will not like'.

Besides numbers are not everything, every person is different and makes choices. If a person likes a Beat, he/she will buy it, if he/she likes a Figo he/she will go for one. The reasoning is entirely upto him/her.

Let another 6 months pass and lets see where Beat and Figo stands on the charts.

[KreativeGeek]

Beat is VFM car which is a high quality product which i feel is lagging due to confusion over product placement of Beat across age groups where is GM is falling flat on it's face.

As pointed out by Alston Lobo Beat is a car with super silent engine, yes you can drive at high gear low speed without the knocking, imagine how much does this help in b2b traffic. Highway driving is also comfortable, with stable NVH performance.

I am getting an average of up to 14 kmpl in city driving under heavy b2b traffic conditions with occasional use of a/c too.

Cons of this car related to features like:

Less boot space: Yes this is a cause of problem since Indian families tend to criticize a new car in terms of space a lot, consider it in terms of rear space seating also.If it does not fit them it is not good

Too young in taste for a mature buyer: Advertisement strategy of Beat could never move on to a logical phase from the initial advertisement campaign. Test it like you own it campaign was a bad move IMO.

Lazy after sales follow up from GM: This has being my personal experience, GM send me a follow up survey on buying process feedback almost after 2 months on purchase. Their only service center is far away from my place almost 20 Kms away from my home. The need to seriously think on improving on their after sales network in case they have to match the ranks of Hyundai or Maruti.

Delay of Deisel Launch: Figo is running high on sales purely due to the availibility of deisel variant, i would appreciate if any of our community member can get some source on the sales figure break up. I am sure Diesel Figo sales would be on a higher side in comparison to the petrol version. still i have read a lot of complaints in terms of FE in both petrol and diesel variants of Figo.

As it is said Beat is a car way ahead of it's time, i see heads turning on the road and people, kids peeping out of their car and vehicle windows staring at my car. I spotted a guy clicking pictures of my car in my office car parking basement, a guy who was with his brother and sister-in-law at a electronic store in pune camp area with me, came out of the store stopped to have some road side snacks and saw my car parked in front of him, he started going ga-ga about the car to his brother and after i returned to my car coming from the opposite lane, he smiled at me giving a , the very first day i had got my car when i took it to the petrol pump even a rickshaw driver uncle was smiling back at me when he parked his auto next to my beat for petrol top up, recently a RTO officer came up to me at a signal at Hinjewadi causing me tension for a moment, he sneaked around my driver seat window and asked me what was the speedometer dashboard like? literally asked me the indicator signs shown on the odometer display in the car.

You cannot get asthetics, features at a price point in this hatchback segment with any other model. the ECU remap has handled any remaining problems that surrounded the 2nd gear pick up issue.

As a first time Maruti owner with Alto, i actually do not miss the maruti factor switiching to Beat. In fact i consider it a wise decision to go for this car as it delivers on city driving comfort.

It remains to be seen how does the diesel model of beat is received.

[jeevmenon]

Originally Posted by rajushank84

The only reason I didn't even consider Beat is the service network. There is no service centre anywhere near my home. So it is irrelevant to me how great the car is, if I have to take a day off every time I want to get it serviced.

Ekkatuthangal, just close to Kathipara. Pick-up and drop same day at 100 bucks. rajushank84? You live beyond TN01-TN07?

[AvonA7]

Found BEAT as an excellent overall package, Stylish look (I know looks are subjective !), very good interiors, good mileage, lots of features, comfortable inside, super silent engine.
IMO this is an excellent car at its price point. Some of the features are not provided by its competitors at this price point, eg. ACC. The sales nos. does not always determine how good/bad a car is, I am sure if this car was launched by Maruti Suzuki or Hyundai the sales nos. would have been at least twice of what it is now. Its more of a perception about GM I guess.
And what else, 2 days back Full page TOI advertisement for Free 3 years maintenance package for BEAT too, just similar to Spark (not sure about any other car manufacturer giving this offer on their car), that makes it easy to own and maintain. And I think these 3 yrs free ownership kind of offer shows the confidence the manufacturer has on its product.
If anything GM themselves are to blame, they cannot market their product correctly and somehow some of their products are underrated it seems.They have all the resources (good no. of dealerships, wide range of cars etc) to be successful in India, but still they lack something somewhere.

[Mpower]

Lack of diesel is not an issue IMO. Hyundai i-10 is topping the sales charts without a diesel.

As far as 'too flashy' styling and 'tight rear space'.....thats exactly what people said when the Swift came out. Anyone remember?

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by KreativeGeek

As it is said Beat is a car way ahead of it's time, i see heads turning on the road and people, kids peeping out of their car and vehicle windows staring at my car. I spotted a guy clicking pictures of my car in my office car parking basement, a guy who was with his brother and sister-in-law at a electronic store in pune camp area with me, came out of the store stopped to have some road side snacks and saw my car parked in front of him, he started going ga-ga about the car to his brother and after i returned to my car coming from the opposite lane, he smiled at me giving a , the very first day i had got my car when i took it to the petrol pump even a rickshaw driver uncle was smiling back at me when he parked his auto next to my beat for petrol top up, recently a RTO officer came up to me at a signal at Hinjewadi causing me tension for a moment, he sneaked around my driver seat window and asked me what was the speedometer dashboard like? literally asked me the indicator signs shown on the odometer display in the car.

KreativeGeek, while i agree with most of your viewpoints, the part i have quoted above is nothing limited to the Beat. Any new vehicle which hits the market, and is seen in limited numbers initially draws the same reaction from the public.

When i bought my Pulsar in the year it was first launched, i went through similar experiences of the kind you have mentioned. At a checkpost in Hyderabad, i was asked to step down by the cop on duty who even went for a test ride on my bike! Look at the scene today.. Pulsar is THE most common bike around, and noone cares a damn about a new one.