General Motors will fight a planned low-cost car by Toyota with its Chevrolet brand, high level GM sources told Automotive News Europe (ANE).
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GM and Toyota are planning low-cost cars following the surprise success of Renault’s budget-priced Logan family car. Renault and its Dacia brand last year sold 247,514 units of the Logan, which starts at about EUR6,400. Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn expects unit sales to rise to nearly 1m units by 2009.
GM sources told ANE that development of a Logan rival is at an advanced stage. The new GM model would be marketed in emerging markets such as eastern Europe, Russia and India under the Chevrolet brand by 2010 or 2011.
GM would not confirm the plans but a spokesman told ANE :”We do have a group of emerging markets and product portfolios are planned to meet the needs of those markets.”
Like the Logan, it would be sold in Russia, India, eastern and central Europe and South America, but possibly also in China.
Toyota is expected to launch its new low-cost car by 2010, and price it between EUR4,500 and EUR5,300 for emerging markets like India and Brazil.
PSA/Peugeot-Citroen CEO Christian Streiff said that his company would reverse its position and consider introducing a low-cost car.
