New Chevrolet Beat Coming in July Despite GM Plant Shutdown

General Motors is set to launch the new Chevrolet Beat in July, preceded by a media preview in May.

A leaked image of the upcoming Chevrolet Beat. (Photo courtesy: CarblogIndia)

News from General Motors is usually few and far between. Recently, the company was in the news for shutting down its manufacturing facilities at Halol, Gujarat, and planning on consolidating its operations in Talegaon, Maharashtra.

However, there’s some news for GM dealers and Chevrolet Beat buyers to look forward to ― the company is planning to launch the refreshed Chevrolet Beat in India in July 2017. The new Chevrolet Beat will be called the Chevrolet Intelli Beat. It is not the same as Chevrolet Spark that is sold in Europe, but instead, is a heavily reworked version of the current Chevrolet Beat.

A leaked memo from General Motors pointing to the launch of the Beat. (Photo courtesy: IndianAutosBlog)

The upcoming Chevrolet Beat will feature a redesigned front end, taking inspiration from Chevrolet Spark. However, the body is largely unchanged. The rear will likely feature new tail lamps as was seen on the Beat Activ shown at the Auto Expo 2016. The interiors, as can be seen from earlier spy photos, will have some changes to the dashboard, with a new instrument cluster and centre console.

The 1-litre, three-cylinder diesel, and the 1.2-litre petrol engine are likely to continue in the refreshed Beat as well.

The Beat will feature an upgraded infotainment system with Android Auto. General Motors is calling this the ‘Mylink Infotainment system’ as is evident from a leaked memo from the company to its dealers. Official images and reviews of the Chevrolet Beat are likely to appear towards the end of May, when it plans on having the car previewed by the media.

Later in the year, General Motors is also likely to bring out the compact sedan version of the car, called the Chevrolet Beat Essentia.