GM considers marching Chevy Beat mini-car into U.S. market

I can squeeze 35 mpg from my cobalt, so if this new car can't get 40-45 mpg, don't bother!

BTW, I don't consider 30 mpg to be great milage, my 92 cav gets 30 mpg with 16 year pld technology!

Mini car? Sure, but why four seater?? Get real! two seater is fine and cargo space is valuable as well..

Good to see the South Koreans will be kept busy!

I just bought a suburban yesterday- the prices are so cheap it more than makes up for the gas prices- and no back pains! What's good for the General is good for the U.S.

Don't they already have a "mini" car called the Aveo??? That car gets bad gas mileage compared to the Japanese cars in it's class. Bring back the Sprint or Metro!!!!

I remember GM's attempt to sell a small car decades ago called the NOVA. It did ok here but was a flop in Latin America. Someone at GM forgot that in spanish, NOVA means NO GO. NOt the best way to advertise a car.

Every time GM brings out a new car , I ask myself " What have they forgotten?" Could the "Beat" be a little off with this new model?

ejhickey wrote:

I remember GM's attempt to sell a small car decades ago called the NOVA. It did ok here but was a flop in Latin America. Someone at GM forgot that in spanish, NOVA means NO GO. NOt the best way to advertise a car.

Wrong.
http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova....

There are numerous GM vehicles produced throughout the world which would do well here and which would use less energy as we drill for our own bloody oil.

Why did they give it THAT name? Did they want to see owners BEAT the hood or themselves in frustration, is the company easily BEAT, in an accident it will be easy to BEAT up....

C'mon, you can BEAT that idea to death.

All that's missing is the Nike "swoosh" on the side. I suppose they will be sold in pairs, one for each foot.
And then, there's the issue of how well they will do in snow.

Dave wrote:

I can squeeze 35 mpg from my cobalt, so if this new car can't get 40-45 mpg, don't bother!
BTW, I don't consider 30 mpg to be great milage, my 92 cav gets 30 mpg with 16 year pld technology!

35 from a Cobalt! I rented a Cobalt about 3 years ago to drive to Tulsa. What terrible gas mileage! And from such a tiny car. I had better mileage from a Chevy Malibu the year before. Either I have a heavy foot, the Cobalt wasn't designed for highway driving or the newer ones have improved.

How about we just slow down on our oil consumption? Is that too much to ask?

GM and the other US manufacturers, but especially GM, have punted so many times on new technology that they're in a real bind; they may not be able to raise the cash to do what they need to do.

Consider: VVT (Variable Valve Timing) engines. Honda? 1992. Toyota? 1998. BMW and Peugeot-Citroen? A joint effort in 2006 (just in time for the new Mini). The Big Three? Still waiting. VVT is a big deal for getting decent city mileage out of gasoline engines -- it delivered a 15 percent improvement in mileage for the new Mini despite the new engine having higher horsepower.

Or for an even more tragic tale, the electric car. GM had a working prototype in 1966. Yes,'66, not '96. They had a production performance electric car in 1998. But they opted not to take advantage of their lead, and ceded the field to the imports and Ford. Now they're playing ambitious catch-up with the Volt. Ambitious, but still catch-up, and that's an expensive combination. Sad part is they may not even have the cash to see it through to production.

Deadwood wrote:

<quoted text>
35 from a Cobalt! I rented a Cobalt about 3 years ago to drive to Tulsa. What terrible gas mileage! And from such a tiny car. I had better mileage from a Chevy Malibu the year before. Either I have a heavy foot, the Cobalt wasn't designed for highway driving or the newer ones have improved.

I have a Civic and a Cobalt. The Civic gets slightly better gas mileage. The Cobalt is quicker and quieter. Perhaps the new ones have improved as you say.

History is repeating itself with GM and the other American car Mfg.'s who got bloated building SUV's and trucks with huge profit margins instead of researching higher fuel efficiency. They have no one to blame, but themselves if they go belly up.

HA! I remember how when GM held that online survey, for Model A, B or C or whatever and the "Beat" was picked -- GM kept saying how the thing would not be sold in the US market at all. It was strictly for Asia and other markets.(Which is bizarre, considering they asked American consumers to pick it....). But now, out of desperation, they are scrambling to come up with a small, hyperefficient car that Americans are now DEMANDING. Well gee, maybe instead of reinventing the wheel, GM could just consider sending over some of its smaller European Opel models and also some of their small block diesels? The 2009 Saturn Astra is the same as the Belgian Opel Astra after all. Or hey, maybe that mothballed GM partnership with FIAT needs a second look? FIAT builds fabulous modern, efficient and fun cars in Europe.

Leave it to GM to waste time reinventing everything (like the Volt...). The proposed Beat looks great, but does GM even have the luxury of time left to develop it?

The Beat looks like a piece of crap. I wouldn't want to be wedged between it and a semi.

Why can't we have cars like the ones sold in Europe.
I rented an Opel Vectra Estate last year in Ireland. It was a nice sized station wagon and held the luggage of 3 adults and a child. The car was manual transmission and used diesel fuel. It had a very smooth ride and the mileage was absolutely great. We started out with a full tank, added 34 euros of diesel fuel during our 8 day stay. We put 300 miles on the car just driving back and forth across the country, and drove another 3-4 hours every day while there. The tank wasn't empty when we returned the car.
That 34 euro of fuel would amount to about $46 during the time of our stay.
I would buy a car like the Opel Vectra Estate anytime, if they would market them here in the U.S.

ejhickey wrote:

Every time GM brings out a new car , I ask myself " What have they forgotten?" Could the "Beat" be a little off with this new model?

I don't know about you, but if I was trying to sell this car, I wouldn't use the words "beat" and "off" in the same sentence. LOL

tralfaz wrote:

<quoted text>
Wrong.
http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova....

Good point but it doesn't make the "Beat" a better looking car. And GM still has to get it in production before GM's stock sinks out of sight.

Speedracer wrote:

The Beat looks like a piece of crap. I wouldn't want to be wedged between it and a semi.
Why can't we have cars like the ones sold in Europe.
I rented an Opel Vectra Estate last year in Ireland. It was a nice sized station wagon and held the luggage of 3 adults and a child. The car was manual transmission and used diesel fuel. It had a very smooth ride and the mileage was absolutely great. We started out with a full tank, added 34 euros of diesel fuel during our 8 day stay. We put 300 miles on the car just driving back and forth across the country, and drove another 3-4 hours every day while there. The tank wasn't empty when we returned the car.
That 34 euro of fuel would amount to about $46 during the time of our stay.
I would buy a car like the Opel Vectra Estate anytime, if they would market them here in the U.S.

1.) Regardless of your anectdotal fears of trucks and crashworthiness based on what a vehicle 'looks' like, thousands of people voted for the Chevy beat as a good looking, modern choice. As the Smart and other cars have shown, safety is in the engineering, not looks or size per se.

2.) GMs European Vauxhall/Opel Vectra fitted with the 1.9l diesel is listed at 49.5 mpg, and the 3.0l diesel is listed at 40.9 mpg. The smallest 1.8l gasoline version is listed at 38.6 mpg, while the largest gasoline engine choice, the 2.8l V6 auto is listed at 25.9 mpg (all Imperial gallons, however).

Either way, it's head and shoulders above the paltry choices we are afforded here in the US by GM/Ford/Chrys. In Europe, buyers are treated to many more powertrain combinations in diesel and petrol, from very small engines, up to larger 6cyl and 8s etc.

See http://wikicars.org/en/Opel_Vectra

Check out the midsize Chevrolet Epica on Chevy's British website. With a 2.0L diesel, it's rated at 53.3 mpg Imperial on the highway and 37.7 in the city! Those are hybrid-beating numbers!

http://www.chevrolet.co.uk/epica/epica-techni...

The fact that the US manufacturers are not actively bringing these cars over here for production is beyond stupid. It's down right unpatriotic! For that kind of fuel mileage, I'll fly to England and buy one of the damn things!

And GM/Chevy sits farting around considering a maybe, possibly, future Korean-made "Beat" model, when they are already selling what today's Amercan car buyer would likely desire right across the Atlantic.

The Big Three are their own worst enemies. So, so stupid.