GM’s Halol plant has been set up with the main motive of producing diesel engines and ones which would be exported as well. Beginning its operations, the plant would be producing diesel engines for the earlier reported Beat and now for the Chevrolet Spark as well. The Spark is one of the best sellers from GM’s stables and GM have got a LPG variant for it as of now, the diesel engine and finally an 800 cc engine with all emphasis on fuel economy.
Vice President of GM India Mr P. Balendran recently proclaimed that the company is all set to introduce new products in the Indian market to maintain an offensive and to generate public interest in its products. The diesel engine has been entirely designed by GM’s state of the art R&D facility in Bangalore. Touted as one of India’s smallest diesel engines, the 3 cylinder 963 cc engine would develop close to 57 Bhp of peak power and a huge 142 Nm of torque. Mr P. Balendran also said that the emphasis was been given on the driveability and fuel efficiency of this engine. As of now, in its category, there are no diesel engines and the Chevy Spark would hit the nail on the head with its first hand approach.
On the same vein, P. Balendran also added that as of now, the company isn’t looking to bring in its esteemed brand, Cadillac to India. He said that there was no demand for the same here and he would like to build the brand in the Indian public’s mind first and then atleast think of accepting personalized CBU orders. The question of servicing this car also arises. Since it is a complexity for a niche market, he said that plans for it are currently on the back burner.
