General Motors launched the Beat Diesel last year and the car has been positioned as a very fuel efficient vehicle. However it was the Tata Indica eV2 which took the honours of the most fuel efficient car, with a mileage of 25 kmpl as per ARAI. The Beat Diesel was certified at 24 kmpl by ARAI. Now GM have got the Chevrolet Beat Diesel re-tested at the International Centre for Automotive Testing (ICAT), which has given it a fuel efficiency certification of 25.4 kmpl. This makes the Beat Diesel the most fuel efficient car in India.

The Chevrolet Beat Diesel has the 939cc, 3-pot diesel motor at its heart, producing 57 BHP of power and 150 Nm of torque. This engine is a Fiat Multijet engine with one cylinder less and comes with a 1 lakh kms engine warranty from GM. The company has done some minor tweaks to the engine including engine calibration and reduction of drivetrain losses. off late to increase the mileage. This includes The American automaker has dubbed the engine as XDSE Smartech diesel engine and have developed the motor in house at Bangalore (with help from GM Europe). The Beat Diesel starts at a price of Rs. 4.51 lakhs and goes all the way up to Rs. 5.73 lakhs (all prices ex-showroom, Mumbai).

Usually we see that the actual production cars are a much toned-down version of the original concept cars showcased earlier. However, sometimes the reversal of the game happens as with the Chevrolet Beat. The US bound Beat Electric (called Spark in US) was said to feature a 60 bhp electric motor during the unveiling of the concept. However, GM seems to have given more thought and felt it wouldn’t be sufficient in a country like the US. So, instead of the 60 bhp motor, the car is likely a more powerful 115 bhp motor.

This has been jointly developed by GM and PATAC (Pan-Asia Technical Automotive Centre) based out of Shanghai. The motor is supposed to be powered by a Lithium ion battery pack. GM has however not revealed the range of this Spark Electric. It is expected to cover at least a distance of 100 kms with a single charge. The electric version of Beat is not likely to come to India any time soon because of lack of proper infrastructure currently and lack of commercial viability.

Recently we had posted about Chevrolet introducing its small car Beat revised model to the US market initially which might be followed by launching it in India as well. However, reports have arrived that the US bound Beat (sold as ‘Spark’) may not likely come to India due to different regulatory requirements in both countries. The US version of the Beat will be receiving some design updates to meet US safety standards. The car is slated to be launched there in mid-2012. The design updates will include a larger grille similar to the shape of Chevrolet Sonic, revised front styling and a modified lower intake.

The US Beat/Spark will be getting the 1.2L 4 cylinder engine producing 80 bhp of power and 80 foot pound of torque. It is attached to a 4 speed automatic or a 5 speed manual gearbox. It returns a fuel efficiency figure of 46 mpg (based on the Euro Test Cycle which produces numbers 10 to 20 percent higher than the EPA testing). The Beat is going to compete with Scion IQ and the revised Smart ForTwo. The Beat is the smallest car being offered from Chevrolet in the US market and also has the smallest engine offering ever.

General Motors had showcased the Chevrolet Beat Electric Vehicle in India a few weeks ago and now the company has unveiled it at its home in the U.S. Known as the Spark there, the Beat EV will be sold in limited quantities in select U.S. and global markets starting in 2013. Feedback from participants in Chevrolet’s electric vehicle demonstration fleets in Shanghai (Sail EV), Korea (Cruze EV) and India (Beat EV) are being incorporated into the Spark EV is what GM claimed at the time of unveiling. A123 Systems will be supplying the advanced nanophosphate lithium-ion battery packs to General Motors for the Beat EV. Details on range, quantities, specific markets and pricing are yet to be announced.

“The Spark EV offers customers living in urban areas who have predictable driving patterns or short commutes an all-electric option. It complements Chevrolet’s growing range of electrified vehicles, including the Volt extended-range EV and the 2013 Malibu Eco with eAssist technology. Our global demo fleets continue to provide insight into the needs of electric vehicle customers living in urban environments. The Spark EV is another step in Chevrolet’s plan to provide customers with a variety of electrification solutions to address the lifestyle and transportation needs of people around the world,” Jim Federico, global vehicle chief engineer for electric vehicles, Chevrolet, said.

Auto Major General Motors unveiled the facelift of their model, The Beat at Chevrolet’s centennial anniversary at Detroit, USA. The new Beat has got many cosmetic changes like the new front and rear fascia, rear bumpers, reshaped honeycomb grille that houses a slightly bigger Chevy bow-tie logo, new fog lamps and modified headlamps and brake lamps. It also gets new ORVMs and a new alloy wheel design. The company also claims that the interiors have received a mild update too. Moreover, it is rumoured that the new ECOTEC family of engines developed by GM will be utilized to power the Beat and the rest of the models worldwide.

The ECOTEC engines range from 1L to 1.4L variants having a 3 or 4 cylinder arrangement. Some will also come equipped with turbochargers, direct injection and twin-cam technology. GM also announced they will be producing an electric version of the Beat (It’s called Spark in US countries) for sale in the US and other countries. “The Spark EV offers customers living in urban areas who have predictable driving patterns or short commutes an all-electric option,” said Jim Federico, global vehicle chief engineer for electric vehicles at Chevrolet. “It complements Chevrolet’s growing range of electrified vehicles, including the Volt extended-range EV and the 2013 Malibu Eco with eAssist technology.”

General Motors has launched the Chevrolet Beat Diesel in India. The company is offering the diesel-powered Beat in 4 variants – PS, LS, LT and LT (Option). Price of the Chevrolet Beat Diesel starts at Rs. 4.29 lakhs for the base PS variant and goes all the way to Rs. 5.45 lakhs for the top of the line LT (Option). The Beat Diesel boasts of new features such as Smartech, Pro-Vario Assist Featherlite EPS and Intellidrive. Booking started a week ago and the company has already received 1500 bookings for the Beat Diesel. Delivery is instant, with no waiting period on the car.

The Chevrolet Beat Diesel is powered by a 936cc, 3-cylinder, turbocharged common rail motor that produces 57 bhp of power and 150 Nm of torque. The Beat Diesel boasts of an ARAI certified mileage of 24 kmpl and GM offers 3 years, 1 lakh kms engine warranty as standard. The Beat Diesel also benefits from GM’s Chevrolet Promose maintenance program, where in maintenance is taken care for 45,000 kms or 3 years, which ever is earlier. The tyres on the Beat Diesel are 165/65/R14 tubeless.

The diesel engine in the Chevrolet Beat Diesel has been developed in Bangalore with expertise from GM Europe. A total team of 2500 engineers from India have worked on the XDSE Smartech diesel engine. The company has dubbed the Beat Diesel as Perfect. P for Performance, E for EPS, R for Refinement, FE for Fuel Economy, C for Cost of ownership and T for Technology. The Beat diesel is manufactured at GM’s Talegaon facility and will be sold across GM’s 250 sales and service network. India is the only country to get the aforementioned diesel engine and the company plans to export it to other markets by the end of the year. GM plans to sell 5000 units of the diesel Beat every month.

Chevrolet Beat Diesel Price (ex-showroom, Delhi)

Beat Diesel PS – Rs. 4.29 lakhs
Beat Diesel LS – Rs. 4.59 lakhs
Beat Diesel LT – Rs. 4.99 lakhs
Beat Diesel LT (Option) – Rs. 5.45 lakhs

General Motors are still a week away from launching the Chevrolet Beat Diesel in India but that does not stop them from updating the website with the details of the diesel Beat. The American automaker is inviting people to leave their details for a test drive even before the launch. Some dealers are also offering test drives and taking advance bookings of the Beat Diesel. The company talks about the advantages of the Smartech diesel engine in the Beat Diesel. All the details of the car are out already except the most crucial, pricing. You can access the website here.

General Motors will launch the Chevrolet Beat Diesel on the 25th of July, 2011. The automaker plans to price the diesel-powered Beat very competitively and is determined to shake the segment with the value it plans to offer. The Chevrolet Beat Diesel is powered by a 936cc, 3-cylinder engine which produces 58.5 BHP of power and 150 NM of torque. GM engineers have managed to attain excellent NVH levels on the car and the vibrations are even lower than the Volkswagen Polo Diesel. The Polo Diesel also uses a 3-cylinder motor, but produces more power and significantly better torque.

The Beat Diesel will compete with the Ford Figo, which is its nearest rival in the segment. GM plans to offer the Beat Diesel to customers without any waiting and have already boosted production of diesel engines at their facility in Talegaon. The Fiat derived motor boosts of excellent driveability but compromises on outright acceleration. Overall the Beat Diesel is a step in the right direction for GM India, who plan to boost sales in the growing Indian car market. We have already driven the diesel Beat, our first impressions can be found here.

General Motors will launch the Chevrolet Beat Diesel in the second week of July, 2011. However, we got our hands on the car for a brief time and are impressed with the work GM engineers have done on the diesel Beat. For starters, the Chevrolet Beat Diesel uses a 936cc, 3-cylinder engine, which develops 57 bhp of power at 4000 RPM and 150 Nm of torque at 1750 RPM. The engine in the car we got our hands on, was labeled ECOTEC (the one which NDTV tested though read SMARTECH). The low end response is very good and the Chevrolet Beat Diesel does not feel sluggish at all. The clutch is light but the gearbox felt little hard to shift around. However since the unit was a pre-production one, we can expect the gearbox to be much better on the production car.

The Chevrolet Beat Diesel sports excellent NVH levels. Don’t believe us? Checkout the video above in which we revv the car all the way to its redline at 5000 RPM. The electric power steering in the Beat Diesel is a breeze to use and makes parking in tight spots very easy. Everything else is the same on the diesel Beat except the audio system which now sports both a USB and an Aux out point. The company has also tweaked the suspension for comfort, something which weren’t able to make out during our short stint with the diesel Beat. GM was trying to achieve mileage figures close to 28 kmpl and the Beat TCDi has got an ARAI certification of 24 kmpl. This makes it the most fuel efficient CRDi car in the country.