Indian car manufacturers are facing a big problem as the market for passenger cars is slowing down. Many consumers are becoming price sensitive as their spending capacity gets lower, and car makers who have big cars in their portfoilio are desperately trying to find solutions to attract buyers to their cars. One solution seems to be redesigning existing cars to make them less than four metres long, and thereby giving them a huge price advantage.
This solution has been used by Tata, Mahindra and Maruti to good effect; Mahindra shortened the Xylo MPV and renamed it the Quanto. The Quanto promised MPV like space for quite a low price, a very attractive proposition for Indian car buyers. Now, Chevrolet has taken a leaf out of Mahindra’s book. According to a report by Autocar, GM is working on a compact version of the Enjoy MPV which was launched in May 2013. The new compact car will adhere to the norms for a small car, it will be less than four metres long and will be powered by petrol/diesel engines which will be equal or smaller than 1200cc/1500cc.
- GM India is working on a less-than-four-metre version of the Enjoy to make the car more attractive to buyers
The compact Enjoy will most probably be powered by the 1.2 litre 85 BHP engine currently used in the Sail. A diesel engine is important for customers in this segment, and we expect the 1.3 litre 76 BHP diesel unit from the Enjoy to be carried over to the compact MPV.
The Enjoy is 4305 mm long and offers a third row of seating, the compact MPV will probably lose the third row. The compact Enjoy will be lighter, maybe a bit faster, more fuel efficient and most importantly cheaper than the Enjoy. Cheaper by how much? By Rs. 40,000 roughly estimated. That roughly translates to starting price of close to Rs. 5 lakh, many big hatches cost about that figure. The spaciousness that the compact MPV will offer cannot be challenged by the competition it is going to target, this could spell a big windfall for the company. The compact Chevrolet Enjoy MPV could be the driving force behind the companies change in fortune. let’s wait and watch.
Follow this space for more info on the compact Enjoy MPV from Chevrolet.
