General Motors Turn of Fortune in India with the Cheverlot Spark

GM launched a new model in India to shore up its fortunes after their collapse in the United States. They have thus launched the Chevrolet Spark in India. Basically it's a rehash of the Daewoo Matiz as Daewoo is now taken over by GM. The car manufactured at Halol in Gujarat is expected to try and bite into the small car pie in India.

A first look at the spark shows that GM engineers have put in some hard work. The Spark has a stylish and expensive look. In addition it offers a host of features that can give it an edge over its main competitor the Suzuki Alto and Hyundai Santro. The car also comes in a variety of colors to suit the palette of all.

The Chevrolet Spark comes in 6 variants including a factory fitted LPG version. All these have a 4 cylinder 1 liter (995 cc) engine. This develops a whopping 63 bop at 5400 rpm and a torque of 90.3 Nm at 4200 rpm.. All the engines have a 5-speed manual transmission. There is no automatic version. Thus in relation to its competitors it is very well placed.

The car is extremely comfortable to drive and has easy handling. It has a compact size and thus will allow you to park it in constrained spaces. The front McPherson struts suspension and the rear torsion beam axle suspension provide ensure that even on bumpy roads in India it will give you a smooth ride.The Spark has a top speed of 155 kph. Even at this speed the car is steady and hugs the road in an excellent manner. It can accelerate from 0-100 kph in 16 seconds which is pretty good.

The Spark measures 3495 mm in length, 1495 mm in width, and 1518 mm in height. It has a kerb weight of 850 Kg that ensures it steadiness during turns. The headroom and legroom are spacious enough and four adults can easily fit in.

The interior of the car has a different look . The instrument pod is placed in the center of the dashboard. This may be just a wee bit difficult for the driver who will have to look sideways to see the instrument cluster. The car manufacturers have however provided shopping bags, bottle and card holders, a sunglass case, and drawers under the front seats.

Spark's top variant comes with power steering and remote adjustable rear view mirrors for the driver. There are other features also height-adjustable seats for driver, ABS brakes, airbags and alloy wheels.

The car when we test drove it returned figures of 14.4 km to a liter of petrol. This is good and economical. The car also handles excellently and priced at Rs 3.08 lakh on the road is considered a good buy. This is one car from the stables of GM that will certainly give fillip to the manufacturer after a global down slide.