Chevrolet Beat achieves 1 million in sales

GM's Chevrolet Beat achieved 1 million in sales worldwide this month, coincidentally my car also completed 50,000 Km run last month.

It has being a satisfactory and fulfilling ownership experience for me driving Chevrolet Beat for the past 4 years, as a hatchback it drives efficiently in the city and a decent highway performer. Back in 2010 when hatchbacks were not expected to look great, Beat won me over with it's radical design. My personal after sales experience is also very positive with Beat.

What i like most about Chevrolet Beat is it's highway drive which feels very well planted on the road and high quality interiors with good rear seat comfort that can seat 3 passengers easily and ample legroom and less body roll. I also get close to 14-15 kmpl city driving mileage under heavy traffic conditions.

It was a skeptical risk I took with a brand like Chevrolet while the market has always stayed tilted in favor of established names like Maruti, Hyundai and Honda.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra's India visit provided some help to reinstate dropping brand confidence as GM does not have a strong offering apart from Beat and Cruze in it's lineup in India, in fact Ford has managed to build consumer base and strong brand confidence with Figo and Ecosport.

I hope GM comes up with new offering's for Indian car market soon to provide consumers options in compact MUV and 4-meter sedan segment.

Check out this stunning Chevrolet Beat Mod from Tashkent

Chevrolet Beat (LT Petrol) - Beyond 55,000 km

My Chevrolet Beat LT has touched a running distance of 31,500 Km. and no better time than this to put my thoughts around how enjoyable the overall ownership experience has being over the past  2 years and 8 months.

Choosing Chevrolet Beat petrol over Ford Figo was not an easy decision when I planned to upgrade from Maruti Alto VXI.  I also had Swift and Ritz on this list however multiple instances of bad experience in getting my Alto serviced with Kothari Wheels had steered me away from Maruti already.

At the time when I purchased Beat, Pashankar Auto sales was the only dealer for Chevrolet in Pune, Shreyans Talera motors had closed down their dealership with the company during that period so I was lucky to get the car without much waiting period.

Okay leaving behind these retro thoughts and getting down to how my car is performing!

Ride quality: Ride quality has improved significantly post car running crossed 15,000 Km. after the first oil change was done; I avoid revving car engine beyond 2000 RPM unless I have to overtake on road for a short distance in city on 2^nd gear. I had a habit of racing my Alto on 2^nd gear which was one of the changes I had to adapt while driving Beat; service center staff had done an ECU remap to the engine for improving 2^nd gear handling performance.

Beat’s suspension handles body roll well with minor bumps or bad patches if you are driving at normal speed, slowing down on very bad road increases body roll for the passengers seated in the front section.

I noticed this low power feel on 2^nd gear helped in heavy traffic conditions and prevented the car from knocking or stalling when moving slowly, it allows you enough time to decide if it’s right to move into 3^rd gear which in turn reduces the frequent gear changing issue. Gear shifting while in traffic is not difficult however it still feels stiff sometimes.

I never had to do wheel balancing with Beat even once in past 2.5 years, compared to 3-4 instances of wheel balancing I had with Alto. Service staff at Pashankar Auto and Singh Motors both advised me never to go for unnecessary wheel balancing unless you find your car shifting in one direction, no hassles with suspension or ground clearance until now.

Highway driving has being the most pleasant experience with Beat; I have taken my car to few long road trips beyond Pune, have observed minimal drag with heavy luggage and full passenger load while driving through ghats with A/C  on else it runs smoothly. One has to be mindful while taking turns on highway as small tyres on Petrol Beat are not very stable at high speed. Good NVH has still being maintained in the cabin and I can comfortably touch a speed of 140-150 Km/h while on highway without feeling the engine being cranked hard or any other kind of car body vibration in the front section.

Interior/Exteriors:  Plastic quality used by GM for Beat’s interior proves its superior quality because I have not seen it getting dull in any area of the car namely around door exits, the main car dashboard, storage areas provided or the doors, I had opted for a 3M package at the time of purchase which gave me car under body coating to prevent rusting with 5 year warranty and 3 free body coating services.

I do not have a covered parking for my car and there were times in last 2 years when car washing was almost halted for few months in our society due to water problems in Pune, otherwise alternate day car wash with cleaning of the interiors every 15-20 days has helped me maintain the car in good condition.  Beat gives you a big car feel and not a typical hatchback look common to i10, Wagon R, Spark etc. even though it falls under the same segment.

Fuel Economy: During the initial 2 years I got fuel economy between 12-14 Km while driving in the city and 17-18 Km on highways, this has now improved to 15 km/l average in the city and 18-19 km/l on highway during past 6 months. I noticed increasing tyre pressure to 34 PSI has helped me to improve fuel economy and also the engine does not feel sore while revving above 3500 RPM after the car crossed 25,000 Km. mark. This is definitely not a racing machine even with its bold looks and a sporty tachometer so never drove Beat that way, it performs very well as a city car and comfortable during long highway drives for my family of 3.

After Sales Service:

Beyond the initial hiccups with Pashankar Auto after buying Beat, I have being impressed by their service a lot and happened to try Singh Motors which is close to the vicinity I stay in Pune, as dealers both of them have met my expectations and exceeded some.  I have being regularly reminded about my car servicing by both dealers, used to get calls asking about the performance of the car, being informed and invited to service camps.

There was an instance when my petrol tank latch had got damaged and I had requested Singh motor’s to order it for me, when I took the car for this latch replacement they informed me replacement was not required as the latch was stuck inside and they fitted it again, this latch costed just Rs 125, they could have replaced it without even informing me.

it’s not just this but even with Pashankar auto a service engineer informed me about front viper wear out problem during one of the servicing visit, I asked him to get it replaced on which he suggested to do it after summer season as the rubber tends to wear out again a little under high temperature in summer , these are instances which instil confidence in you regarding the dealer and this was not the case with Kothari Wheels (Maruti). They just blindly used to do everything I ever asked for during servicing and put it on the bill and sometimes even suggest additional expenses which raised doubt in my mind if it was actually required?

Chevrolet dealers in Pune do not have a clean record though overall, as I have read various threads across forums of Chevrolet car owners not always happy with the way they have experienced after sales service with these vendors, however I have being fortunate enough that my experience with Chevrolet after sales service has grown stronger commanding a respect for the overall brand. I wish Chevrolet soon has one stable winner on hands to strengthen their position in Indian car market, as a brand it would stand to gain better loyalty and good second sale value for their vehicles.

Some Pro’s about the car:

• Still stands out in terms of design in the hatchback car category, easy to maneuver in the city, only Hyundai EON has brought in fresh design in the small car segment.
• It easily touches 60 km/h mark while driving in the city under 10 seconds and races to 100 km/h between 14-15 seconds.
• Rear seat legroom is very good and it’s not exactly “claustrophobic “sitting behind as this word appeared in most Chevy Beat reviews.
• Have incurred low maintenance and running cost compared to Alto LXI, A plastic front bumper replacement costed me more in Alto as compared to a fiber material bumper replacement in Beat.
• Under seat storage tray besides the driver seat which was stopped along with rear parcel tray in LT model, comes handy.

Some cons with the car:

• 170 Ltr boot is enough for small trips, 60:40 rear seat adjustments also helps in stuffing additional luggage in case there are no rear seat passengers accompanying on the drive, sometimes this boot space falls low when you have more than 3 big luggage items to carry, fitting in smaller bags is still possible above the large ones maybe additional 2-3 and that’s it.
• Small boot section also posed a challenge for me while going for slightly larger speaker replacement in the rear section, I got stock one's replaced with Illusion speakers which costed me around 9K.
• Hydraulic steering feels little outdated in an era where most hatchback cars have moved to electronic power steering.
• Lack of good thigh support on the front seat for driver and co-passenger could have made long road trips less stressful.
• Storage cups below the main dashboard could have being slightly wider.
• Adjustment to wide ‘A’ pillar does require some time for the driver to adapt and tends to obstruct peripheral view in high traffic conditions/rainy season.

Sharing some bill screenshots of 2^nd major servicing done after 30,000 Km running with majority oil changes done, belt replacements, filter changes etc.

***Aug 22 2015 - Update***
I have crossed 55,000 Km on the odometer between last month and now, also decided to bid my Chevrolet Beat a final adieu as it is time for moving up the chain to another upgrade.It has been a positive experience overall, as a product I rate this car as an efficient city hatchback, however I had no plans to retain this car beyond five years.

During my usage between 30,000 km - 55,000 km I observed that the engine had got more refined and it was able to rev freely without grunting out over 3000 RPM band, I feel Chevrolet could not capitalize on the success of this car to strengthen their brand value in the market, even as I took a risk of looking away from then popular Maruti-Hyundai duo in 2010 and ICOTY award winner Ford Figo (2011) I am parting ways with my Beat and Chevrolet Brand on a positive note.


This time I am shifting from a petrol vehicle to a oil burner purely due to increased distance of commute to my work place, changing times and with many feature rich cars launched this year resisting the upgrade temptation was just too difficult.

Chevrolet Beat - New advertisements arrive

Post the launch campaign was announced last year, General Motor's have released 5 new advertisement clips on their YouTube channel for Chevrolet Spark (Beat). The first one is titled as "Wanted" which captures the new radials with a fresh chrome styling below the grill around fog lights, all the new TVC's capture the essence of global presence of this car while it now prepares for a US launch.

Check out the first clip below, links to other videos

Inspiration Clip | Our Little World Traveller Clip | Chevy Spark Souvenirs | Adventurers

Chevrolet introduces MyLink for Spark and Sonic

Chevrolet has introduced MyLink infotainment feature for Spark and Sonic car models in USA, take a look at the video below which explains what exactly MyLink system does, else you can check more about this technology here, Wonder if Chevrolet would launch similar feature in Indian version of Spark called Beat in near future.

My Chevrolet Beat Review

After driving my Alto LXI for just over 2 years, i decided to go for a upgrade. Alto is a evergreen performer in the city with good mileage and low cost of ownership. I had brought Alto as my first car since i was a novice driver then and friends and relatives advised me to go for a small car first to get proficient with my driving first.

My driving trips also included occasional highway driving and at times i felt the strain of driving long hours in Alto, especially driving for almost 3 hours on the expressway and then getting stuck in B2B traffic in Mumbai made my problems even more worse.

I started getting poor customer service from Kothari Wheels dealer for Maruti here in Pune, getting my car serviced from them was turning out to be a painful affair. Getting service appointments, scheduling pickups was getting difficult. Service rep who used to come to pickup the vehicle hardly stopped to take a look at any issues i had to point out specifically for car repairs.

My front power window had got some motor fault for which they did not have the motor in stock, so they did regular servicing and informed me that they would have it ordered and call me up. I was the one constantly following up was getting poor response from kothari wheels.

While this was going on, i was already having my upgrade plans working in the background, still i was not sure if i would be going for it. I had Maruti Suzuki Ritz VXI, Ford Figo Petrol ZXI and Beat LT on my upgrade list.

Here's the on road price band of these cars:

Maruti Suzuki Ritz VXI - INR 4,92,180
Ford Figo Petrol ZXI - INR 4,64,677
Chevrolet Beat LT - INR 4,61,226

So i chucked out Ritz from my list because with 31K higher in price than Figo and Beat it did not offer features like CD player, Rear Wash Viper, Automatic climate control, Rear De-fogger, Steering Adjustment.

Ford Figo is a breakthrough car for Ford India, it is proved itself to be a runaway success for Ford since it's launch capturing a major consumer segment away from Hyundai and Maruti and is seriously challenging their hatchback market now. That is why both Maruti and Hyundai are now coming up with a face lift version of i10 and Swift.

Figo is roomier in the rear and with largest boot space in its category it commands due respect for being launched in the diesel variant also at the right time. where Chevrolet seems to have missed the bus. i never got an opportunity to test drive Figo due to rigid and stupid attitude of Talera Ford,Satara Road dealer in Pune and reviews and feedback on poor FE in the petrol variant, with already burdened dealer network in terms of after sales made me back away from Ford.

I was then taking a chance with Chevrolet as a company which still does not enjoy the confidence amongst consumers like the Maruti and Hyudai cars do. As a product Chevrolet Beat had won my heart from the time i had spotted it in motion during a trip in December 2009 on the Mumbai-Pune E-Way, when i took some pics of a misty lake colored Beat being TD on the highway,check the pic below.



Finally i got my Alto LXI exchanged with Beat LT in a duration of 2 weeks, so detailed review of my car now starts.

Dealer Feedback:My feedback for dealer Pashankar Auto wheels Pvt Ltd. would be below average. The purchase process began on a good note, I was given test drive of Beat to my satisfaction with the dealer staff helpful enough to assist me in getting fair value for my 2 year old Alto LXI also the sales executive involved in the purchase process was helpful to come with me to get the affidavit done for me at collectors office required for address proof.

I was told i would be eligible for the Gold rush offer, which actually was a lucky draw scheme, however the sales executive goofed up on the offer informing me that i would also be eligible for a assured gold coin offer, which was not the case. He also gave me wrong information related to cashless ownership offer which he corrected later.

The day i took my car delivery from the dealer, arrangement's were done to conduct pooja, Satara road showroom of Pashankar Auto is well maintained. I asked for a written confirmation on assured gold coin offer on which the dealer retracted, i smelled rat here and confirmed again with the assistant sales manager if the assured gold coin offer held good in my case. He confidently told me that i would get a call from GM to collect my gold coin after which i need to come to the showroom and collect it.

I have now escalated this issue to GM, waiting for a final response, anyways i am not interested to drag the matter much however it gave me an indication that this dealer had a misinformed staff. Also recently Talera Chevrolet has closed down in Pune due to which temporarily Pashankar Auto Wheels is enjoying a monopoly here in the city.

I liked the way my buying process was handled with less sales talk and more professional approach, the whole thing was spoiled by the wrong information provided, Chevrolet should take a note of this "Buying Cars is not like Buying Tomatoes".

Now the feedback on car

Build, Design and Looks: Beat is a very stable car in terms of it's build. The muscular exterior is well complemented by striking look at the grill in the front. This is one car that looks beautiful both in and out

City Driving: Beat is fun to ride in the city also, for some drivers raised dashboard and a akward A-Pillar placement could be a let down for some. Luckily i have not faced much issues related to it up to now. The moment you hold the steering you get a judgment of the road automatically. There were problems around 2nd Gear pick up earlier which are now resolved with ECU upgrade done on my car during the first free check up. The engine is super silent and feels super smooth while driving. There is no engine knocking problem while you drive on a low speed on 3rd - 4th gear. city FE up to now has reached up to 14 kmpl

Highway driving performance: I could not record the exact FE during the first trip with my Beat on the Mumbai Pune Expressway, however i felt the ride more comfortable and stress free on the highway. Touched max 140 kmph speed. One needs to be cautious while driving at high speeds in ghat type landscape because the OEM tyres are not so stable at high speeds on highway. There are some patches on the highway which required me to ride on the 3rd gear to get torque on slopes. Beat cruised well on these patches on the 5th gear with the engine rpm above 2K level and with proper luggage and passenger load.

Initial reviews around Beat had raised queries around the suspension and GC, no problems here again. I can hardly feel any thump or bump of potholes or bad roads to my feet while driving and at the same time also i have driven over variety of speed breakers of different heights, one of which had brushed my Alto below earlier in my office parking.

Beat's engine gets roaring once you cross 2K RPM mark, so a word of advice on keeping a good FE, do not race your Beat at short distance much and try to keep the rev band of your engine between 1.8K to 2.5K while driving in the city

Beat is a product with good potential lagging behind right now in the crowd of new hatchback launches plagued by poor marketing and lackluster after sales service attitude of GM also the kind of styling and design it carries does not suite to the sobre taste of Indian consumer much, since when it comes to car buying, it's more of a family affair than of individual choice.

I decided to take a risk with Beat and IMO it has paid off well with the car and not with the company i can say though i found their servicing charges economical enough, In Pune Chevrolet needs to come up at least with another service center on the eastern corridor of the city.

I got 3M one package for my car @8K with car paint protection, engine coating and under body protection from the dealer. changed stock speakers to Illusion series which now delivers high fidelity music, clear treble sound and apt bass output (not thumping though)

Closing comments with pros and cons

Pro's:

Excellent ride quality and handling
Super silent engine
Stable NVH
Ample legroom at front seat and comfortable leg room at the rear seats also.
Economical FE and servicing costs.
Turn's heads wherever you go

Con's

Less boot space
Lack of seat height adjustment
Lazy after sales service response from GM
Local dealer issue (Pashankar Auto Wheels Pvt Ltd.)
Rear window placement may not suit everyone
Not suitable to seat 3 in the rear seat (in any case one of the is oversize) else no issues.

Some BEAT Moments to share:

A guy was clicking pics of my car in the company parking basement as i was leaving for the day, admiring my car from all angles like a curious child. hurried away in embarrassment as he spotted me approaching towards my car, leaving a wide grin on my face.

At Pune camp i was at one of the electronic store where a guy was with his brother and his sister-in-law, i stepped out of the store to move in the opposite lane, as again came at the road crossing moving towards my car, i saw the same guy and his family discussing about my car as they were having roadside snacks, the guy was going ga-ga about the Beat, as he saw me approaching towards the car, he gave me a thumbs up smiling back at me.

The very first day i got my car i went to BP petrol pump at Mundhwa village, a rickshaw driver stopped by next to my car for fuel top up, waved back at me indicating with a wide smile.

Recently a traffic constable walked up to my car while i was stuck in the Hinjewadi IT park traffic lane, he left me tense for a moment, by the time he came close to my window he curiously looked at my cars odometer and dashboard and asked me what was all the tech about on the tripmeter and odometer

I am getting used to gazes on the road, people popping their heads sometimes out of their cars to have a close look at my Beat, even kids watching at my beat from their school buses or rickshaws with a sparkle in their eyes, leaves a nice feeling inside your heart.

So it's just not the beauty but the beast within that defines this machine. I am really happy with my purchase decision to go for Beat, video review of my beat below followed by a video for beat made by me.

Chevrolet BEAT

I had posted pics of Chevrolet BEAT here on my blog on Dec 4, re-posting the details as i got to know the name of this Car today which i guessed was probably from the Chevrolet Stable, and yes it is a Chevrolet BEAT which i saw on a test drive at Mumbai Pune Expressway on 28 Nov 09.

Chevrolet Beat is going to be launched mostly Next month while it features in the upcoming Auto Expo this car is going to be placed in a Price Band of Rs 3.5 - 5 Lakhs, and a possibility of 3 variants to this model, the car hood behind gives it a sporty look and the design of this car is mostly similar to it's international version, it's a B Segment Hatchback touted to give competition to Maruti Ritz, Hyundai i10. Chevrolet had a good run in terms of sales with Spark and it's the right time they found a successor to Spark to maintain the presence in Indian market and grow ahead on their offerings to the evolving car market in our country, This car had featured in the Transformers 2 Flick also this year, check the pics at my album here

Take a look at this video review from CNB Show aired on NDTV