Chevrolet's Small Car Sparking Small Car Demand
Strong demand is spurring Chevrolet to import more Chevrolet Spark minicars from Korea – though Chevrolet won’t release their initial projections or how many Sparks will be imported in the next round.
Chevrolet sold 6,313 Sparks in the first two months it went on sale, surpassing the Smart Fortwo and Scion iQ. The Spark was initially sold in 18 urban markets but is now available nationwide. A strike at GM’s Korean plant put a damper on production, full-scale output has resumed.
Third party projections estimated 27,000 annual sales of the Spark, but GM is on track to exceed that number.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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About 4,500 units of the Chevrolet Beat, as they are known here in India, are sold a month and was the 18th highest seller in September. It starts at 7,000 USD pre-tax and 8,700 for the three cylinder diesel version with fixed geometry turbo. Starved of choice in cars, younger Indians will readily put aside the preference for 'Japani Cars' the elders had and prefer American design. On rare occasions in Bangalore's traffic jams, you can see a Daewoo Matiz standing side by side with the Beat and the Chevrolet Spark. The Spark in India is a blander looking appliance car based on a previous version.
I have not noticed any advertising for the Spark, yet it appears that people are discovering them and taking them home to meet the family. I'm actually thrilled that Spark sales are taking off at this rate, and not a sales dud. Great news for the dealers! I can also imagine that GM was cautious with its sales expectations on this model, perhaps treating the Spark as an experiment in this foray into the entry segment.
Cheap car low price, the real GM.
I've seen a couple of these in my Queens, NYC neighborhood. A place where there are plenty of Mini's and a few Fist 500. I can see why GM had these sense to bring these here as a small urban runabout though I wish the styling was more retro like a Mini, 500 or new Opel Adam which GM should bring or make here.