The Hindu Business Line : GM unveils Chevrolet Aveo here ahead of US, Europe

Mr Jim Queen (right), Vice-President, Global Engineering, General Motors, and Mr Rajeev Chaba, President and Managing Director, GM India, at the launch of Chevrolet Aveo in Bangalore on Saturday. — G.R.N. Somashekar

Bangalore , Feb. 11

GENERAL Motors on Saturday launched its mid-sized sedan Chevrolet Aveo in India ahead of its launch in the US and European markets.

The General Motors India president and managing director, Mr Rajeev Chaba, told newspersons that as the Government was expected to announce excise duty reductions on cars during the Union Budget, the announcement of the price of Aveo was being held back till then.

But it is expected that Aveo, with 1.4 lt and 1.6 lt versions, will directly compete with Ford Fiesta, which is priced between Rs 5.5 lakh and Rs 6.7 lakh, and Honda City, which is priced between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 8 lakh.

But with the launch of Aveo, it is likely to be the end of the road for another General Motors' brand, Corsa, especially the hatchback version, Corsa Sail. The German-made car, which was known for its sturdiness and engineering excellence, sells merely 200 units per month now. General Motors has been giving hefty discounts of late to clear the stock. Mr Chaba said two more cars, Aveo hatchback U-VA, and Optra's sports model, SRV would be launched during the next four months. This is perhaps the first time, three cars are being launched by a single company in a span of five months, the company's vice-president for marketing, Mr Ankush Arora, said.

Working on cars specially for domestic market

General Motors' India engineering division, which is part of the India Science Centre, is working on developing cars specifically for the Indian market but will take help from other such centres across the globe to design the cars.

General Motors' vice-president for global engineering, Mr James E Queen, told Business Line that the cars for the Indian market would be developed in India though some parts could be developed at GM's other centres. "We will use resources from every centre to develop the cars," Mr Queen said. He said one of the reasons for setting up the engineering division in India was the high growth rate of cars in the country.

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