A senior General Motors executive has hinted that the automaker may launch a minicar in the United States.
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The second-generation Chevrolet Beat may be sold as part of a move to add more fuel-efficient cars to GM’s range, its vice chairman Bob Lutz told the Detroit Free Press.
GM already sells the GM-Daewoo-built Aveo ‘supermini’ (European B-segment) model in North America. The line was recently restyled and updated and the new range is also now on sale here in Europe.
The paper said GM plans to manufacture the first-generation Beat minicar in South Korea for sale outside North America from mid-2009. A next-generation vehicle is likely three to five years after that.
The report noted that GM had showed the Beat along with two other minicar concept at the New York motor show last year.
Lutz reportedly said the company may bring the next-generation Beat to the United States, but “we think it’s too late for this one.”
Bloomberg News said the Beat – normally reserved for markets such as Asia and Latin America – sips just 5.9 litres of petrol per 100km, a fuel efficiency topped in the US only by hybrids.
“This is a very big change for GM,” Global Insight analyst John Wolkonowicz told Bloomberg.
“They have no choice. There’s never been as rapid a shift in consumer demand in the history of the auto industry.”
Bloomberg News added that GM was also eyeing the US introduction of a small pick-up truck popular in Latin America and an expansion of the number of versions of the Volt plug-in electric car.
“We are looking at and reviewing our entire portfolio, not just because gasoline is US$4 but because of stricter government fuel economy regulations,” GM spokesman Dee Allen told the news agency.
