General Motors India’s sub Spark small car plans shelved!

Chevrolet Spark Small Car

It seems that the Tata Nano won’t face competition for quite a while as rivals who made big announcements even as Tata Motors Limited launched the Nano to a tremendous response in India, seem to have fallen by the wayside. The Nissan-Renault-Bajaj Ultra Low Cost(ULC) car seems to be embroiled in a big tangle of sorts even as General Motors has come out with an announcement stating that it has now shelved plans to build a competitor to challenge the Tata Nano.

So in essence, the Tata Nano, it seems will enjoy it’s status as the least priced car in India for some more time to come. This aside, GM India’s announcement comes at a time when there has been talk about them launching a cheaper and more fuel efficient 800cc Chevrolet Spark in India even as the market becomes both price and value conscious due to the recent fuel price hike along with the mounting interest rates. Here’s what GM India’s president, Mr Karl Slym had to say about the automaker’s future small car plans.

Chevrolet Spark Small Car

It (small car) was under discussion when the Rs 1 lakh car (Nano) came in. We have reached a decision point that it is not right for us. We did have a plan (to launch a smaller car than Spark), but no longer now. We have shelved the plans to get into that segment.

So, the big question that now remains is whether GM India will go ahead and launch the 800cc Chevrolet Spark Hatchback although Mr Slym has been non committal on that front, refusing to divulge any plans. However, as we just reported a few weeks ago, that GM India is planning to launch another entry level small car apart from the Chevrolet Beat Diesel, we wouldn’t yet rule out the plans for a 800cc Chevrolet Spark in the future.