General Motors is phasing out Opel Corsa sedan and Opel Corsa Sail hatchbacks along with the Opel brand in the country, with new cars in Chevy brand.
MUMBAI: General Motors is phasing out Opel Corsa sedan and Opel Corsa Sail hatchbacks along with the Opel brand in the country.
Testimony to this is the three new cars that General Motors unveiled in Delhi on Wednesday, all under the Chevy brand.
A General Motors spokesperson also indicated to DNA Money that one of the variants would replace the Opel Corsa, but denied that production of the Opel range had been stopped.
“We will continue to produce Opel Corsa cars, both with a 1.4-litre engine as well as a 1.6-litre engine. We have been busy gearing up for the launch of three vehicles, to be unveiled on Januray 18. The first is a hatchback, which will compete with the Maruti Swift and the Hyundai Getz, the second a notchback, which will be in the Opel Corsa range, and the third car will be an Optra sportsback. Eventually one of these models will phase out the Opel Corsa,” said P Balendran, vice-president, corporate communications, General Motors.
However, according to Mumbai-based dealers of GM, Opel Corsa variants have been discontinued and any sales were basically of old stock. “All the Opel Corsa variants have been discontinued by the company. I will have to check if we have any stock left,” said a sales executive from National Garage, which is a General Motors dealer.
“The company has stopped production of all Opel Corsa cars for the last 2-3 months. We only have a few 1.6 GLS Corsas from the special edition, which come with a sunroof and special beige fabric upholstery. The on-road price is Rs 6.3 lakh and we’re offering a Rs 72,000 discount on it, with finance,” said the sales executive of Bharati Automobiles, Jogeshwari.
GM has done reasonably well in India in the recent years after the introduction of the Chevy brand. The brand has struck a cord with the Indian car buyer and limp sales under the Opel brand have been forgotten.
General Motor sells three vehicles under the Chevy brand in the country - the sedan Chevy Optra, the people carrier Chevy Tavera, and the sports utility vehicle Chevy Forester. It also sells the Opel Corsa in India, and Corsa sales continue to be tepid and buoyed by special schemes that its dealers offer from time to time
“The Opel brand is seen as sturdy, dependable and very German. It is true that sales have not been hot,” Amit Dutta, vice-president, marketing, sales-aftersales, General Motors, had admitted to DNA Money in an earlier conversation. GM had entered the market with the Opel Astra and also brought in the bigger Opel Vectra. Both these cars did not excite buyers even as competitors like Honda, Toyota and Hyundai managed to sell their competing products.
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