[BLACKBLADE]

The premium offerings of Chevrolet in India i.e the Cruze and Trailblazer are brilliant in many respects, if not all. The mass market product line-up i.e Beat, Sail, Enjoy and Tavera though not bad in terms of design, features, ride and handling, after sales service and cost of ownership, somehow does not create the wow! effect to impress the potential customers. The cars are average, so to say.

There is no single unique proposition or strong selling point for the cars they sell viz. the After-Sales-Service support offered by Maruti, the quality, finesse and safety features offered by VW, the ride and handling offered by the Fords and Fiats, the innumerable features offered by Hyundai, to quote some of a few IMHO.

If Chevrolet as a brand has to re-establish themselves, in a highly demanding and cost conscious market like India, they have to re-think their strategy for India and come up with strong propositions in terms of newer products, offer exceptional ownership experience through A.S & S support and improve on the overall dealership experience.

Easier said than done. But hope Chevrolet will create magic and live up to our expectations. We love the brand so much and let us hope that they come with a impressive line up soon enough.

P.S. I was recently involved in the purchase of a Chevy Sail petrol for my father in law.

[BLACKBLADE]

If only GM is able to come out of mediocrity in their product line up and add value to the customers, by bringing in solid packages in terms of design, build quality, performance, ride and handling, safety features and ICE, they will be able to win the heart of customers.

The Essentia will be a promising contender? or just another average car which won't strike the right chords, largely remains to be seen.

The links to the related Team-BHP threads and News article is given below.

Chevrolet at Auto-Expo 2016 - Team-BHP

Chevrolet to enter the Compact Sedan segment

Chevrolet Essentia spotted testing - Team-BHP

The specifications and some more images taken from www.indiacarnews.com are attached below.















Will Chevrolet be able to change anything and Wow! the Indian customers with the Essentia ? Waiting with hands crossed.

[ashwin489]

Originally Posted by BLACKBLADE

If only GM is able to come out of mediocrity in their product line up and add value to the customers, by bringing in solid packages in terms of design, build quality, performance, ride and handling, safety features and ICE, they will be able to win the heart of customers.

The Essentia will be a promising contender? or just another average car which won't strike the right chords, largely remains to be seen.

I am puzzled, no even envious of your curious optimism. This car SCREAMS mediocrity, right from the name, design to the interiors.

[volkman10]

GM puts India investments on hold over sluggish sales. Will Essentia be launched?

General Motors is carrying out a thorough review of its India business and a potential partnership with the PSA Group is being seen as one of the options

The Essentia is a sub-4 meter compact sedan that the company has been planning for India, though sources say that “this may also be shelved”.

Dealers are worried, even as the Indian subsidiary’s top management met them as recently as last week to assuage their concerns

link

[Prodigyy]

Originally Posted by ashwin489

I am puzzled, no even envious of your curious optimism. This car SCREAMS mediocrity, right from the name, design to the interiors.

That said, this car has the makings of becoming a popular taxi market car, Provided that Chevy undercuts the pricing of its base model by a good 20-30K wrt Dzire.

[RSR]

Chevrolet owners & fans, relax!

Rumours of General Motors exiting India seem to be just that - rumours! I simply don't believe they're going to exit the 5th largest car market in the world.

Yes, they're planning to sell off their Halol plant to MG (owned by SAIC) and they may go through a phase of restructuring their operations in India, but the company is here to stay!



They have just signed a 3-year wage pact with the Talegaon plant workers' union:

GM India has announced that a new three-year wage agreement has been signed by the company and the General Motors Employees union at the Talegaon plant.

...

“The agreement is effective from 1 April 2017 and runs until 31 March 2020 and is an important step in our plan to consolidate GM India’s manufacturing at the Talegaon plant in Maharashtra”

...

Halol plant to stop making cars on April 28

The pact with the Pune plant workers union comes 18 days after the company had officially announced that it is to cease vehicle manufacturing operations at its Halol, Gujarat plant from April 28. The carmaker has offered transition initiatives for Halol plant employees to shift to the Talegaon plant.

- Read more at: Autocar Professional

[dZired]

GM exits Halol, entirely moves to Talegaon

General Motors has officially ceased production at its Halol plant in Gujarat. As a result, all manufacturing operations under GM India have now been consolidated to its Talegaon facility in Maharashtra.

The American auto major's exit from Halol comes on the backdrop of dropping sales for the Chevrolet brand in India. The company doesn't have any high-potential products in the pipeline either. With a market share of just 0.47%, GM India has been recording huge losses in the past few years. As a result, consolidation of its manufacturing operations to a single location will help in minimizing operational costs and also efficiently match the supply-demand equation.

Link to Team-BHP News

[distiller]

Originally Posted by dZired

GM exits Halol, entirely moves to Talegaon

General Motors has officially ceased production at its Halol plant in Gujarat. As a result, all manufacturing operations under GM India have now been consolidated to its Talegaon facility in Andhra Pradesh.

The American auto major's exit from Halol comes on the backdrop of dropping sales for the Chevrolet brand in India. The company doesn't have any high-potential products in the pipeline either. With a market share of just 0.47%, GM India has been recording huge losses in the past few years. As a result, consolidation of its manufacturing operations to a single location will help in minimizing operational costs and also efficiently match the supply-demand equation.

Link to Team-BHP News

Hi Dezired! I think Talegaon (close to Pune) is in Maharashtra & not in Andhra Pradesh. Can you please re check. Thanks

[MunnabhaiMBBS]

Talegaon is in Maharashtra, not in Andhra Pradesh.

[carmayogi]

Originally Posted by BLACKBLADE

If only GM is able to come out of mediocrity in their product line up and add value to the customers, by bringing in solid packages in terms of design, build quality, performance, ride and handling, safety features and ICE, they will be able to win the heart of customers.

Mediocrity is exactly what the Essentia will bring to the model range.

My strong belief is that, in order to break into a market and challenge established players, you need to launch something better or unique/different to be on the same level field. Brands like Maruti & Hyundai are the buyer's default. They will accept a decent product from such brands. They will not, however, accept a decent product from a failing brand. For them to invest in that brand, it needs to be a special effort.

Examples: Hyundai i10 & i20 were better in noticeable areas than Marutis, specifically interior premium feel and thus are now established. Other attempts in the market were about as good or bad and failed such as Tata Bolt, Nissan Micra, etc. Even the relatively average Nissan Sunny did okay for an unknown Nissan brand because of the amazing rear space - thus a differentiating or wow factor. Renault Duster had a lovely run when it was a unique offering.

For GM to succeed in India, they need a range of really good cars that are above the market perception. The sad thing is, they probably learned this with the Cruze which had looks and diesel power as its differentiating factors and had/has a fan following.

All in all, shame to see them fail, but not surprised nor do they deserve better.

[Nav-i-gator]

Way back in 2009 they had looker, future ready and good performance cars in Cruze and beat. (I own a 2010 Beat, which still look contemporary in styling, has a super silent petrol engine, still niggle free and have an ACC!! - which small car was having an auto Climate control in 2009?). Visit a GM showroom now, and the best looking cars in their stable are still cruze and beat, with a few cars in between that look more like a local garage made contraptions than cars from a global car maker.

GM's is an epic fail here. They came with a winning formula, felt like they would be a success. Then threw in the towel at the first sight of competition. I would not be surprised, not will cry if they exit India. Why be here when you can't offer a single good car from your global stable? Their dealers too are left with no choice but to fleece their existing owners/customers for service and spare parts to stay profitable.

[carmayogi]

Originally Posted by Nav-i-gator

They came with a winning formula, felt like they would be a success. Then threw in the towel at the first sight of competition. I would not be surprised, not will cry if they exit India.

Nail on the head, sir. I missed out mentioning the Beat which was also a good car for its time. They never built on it. Anything from the European Opel lineup like the Zafira minivan, Corsa, Astra - all thoroughly modern cars - would have worked or at least had a chance of working.

[superutp]

In case anyone was wondering (which I doubt), the website is back online
http://www.chevrolet.co.in/

[sandeepmdas]

Me no Chevy fan, nor Chevy hater.

Overall, the manner business is being conducted, the overall lack of response to rumors, the missing efficiency and sensitivity of its top echelon, the devil-may-care attitude, the overwhelming callousness and self-destructive decisions...

All these kind of reminding us a nationalised (remember the buzzword?) sick PSU that belonged to an era before the historic Manmohan budget of 1991. Add to that a tendency to gift everything away (their plant to SAIC), and you'll see a person who's contemplating suicide.

[distiller]

I used Chevrolet Captiva for around 2 years. Used it for 98000 km before I sold it off. It was a good soft roader with a good slush box. Quite comfortable in terms of seating comfort & practically of 7 seater.
I didn't faced any major issues in my ownership tenure except failure of front shock absorbers which was replaced with very fare replacement charges.
My experience with ASC was good one but nothing extraordinary to write about!