General Motors to introduce small, fuel efficient car in the US

04 July 2008

General Motors (GM), long known for its gargantuan SUVs and fuel-guzzling trucks, is all set to introduce the smallest car in its international portfolio to the US market, and in the process, deliver the most efficient conventional engined car in the country.

GM spokesman Dee Allen said bringing the Chevrolet Beat, which is about the size of a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris mini car, to the US is among the options the company is studying.

"It is certainly one of the things that is being looked at from a portfolio perspective," Allen said. The car delivers an amazing fuel efficiency of 40 mile per gallon of gasoline, figures only hybrid cars can beat in the US.

The Beat, to be built in South Korea, will be rolled out in other global markets faster than it would be in the US, Allen said. He did not know when the car might be sold elsewhere or in the US. The car still must be engineered locally to meet American safety and emissions standards, he said.

The possible American introduction of the Beat would be one step in a fleet downsizing and shift away from fossil fuel-based vehicles that the people said is already under way at Detroit- based GM.

Resigned to slowdown in sales due to $4-a-gallon gasoline and stricter pollution rules, the largest automaker in the world finally seems to have recognised that it must respond by going beyond mothballing of large truck plants. (See: General Motors decides to go slow on trucks, SUVs; to concentrate on cars)

Besides the Beat, GM is weighing a list of options for refocusing its auto lineup on fuel efficiency rather than performance. They include the US introduction of a small pickup based on the Chevrolet Montana and quite popular in Latin America, and an expansion of the number of versions of the Volt plug-in electric car, sources said.