Chevrolet Beat facelift revealed

General Motors unveiled a face-lifted version of the Beat at Chevrolet’s centennial anniversary celebrations at Detroit, USA.

The second-generation Beat gets new front and rear fascia with re-profiled front and rear bumpers, reshaped honeycomb grille that houses a slightly bigger Chevy bow-tie emblem, new fog lamps and modified headlamps and brake lamps. It also gets new outside rearview mirrors and alloy wheel design. The company claims the interiors have received a mild update as well.

The bigger news is that GM has revealed a new global engine family, the Ecotec, that will power the Beat and the rest of its models worldwide. This engine family has motors ranging from 1 litre to 1.5 litres and will have a three- and four-cylinder setup. This new range will replace all petrol engines in the GM line-up from 1-litre to 1.8-litre displacements. Some versions will include direct injection, turbo-charging and also twin-cam technology. Engine production will be carried out at multiple plants and components will be exchanged internationally. GM will manufacture as many as two million engines of the new family per year globally.

The company has also announced that it will produce an all-electric version of the Spark (Beat) called the Spark EV. It will be sold in limited quantities in select US and global markets starting from 2013. It has been co-developed by GM and its partner PATAC (Pan-Asia Technical Automotive Centre) based in Shanghai. For the new Spark EV, engineers have incorporated feedback gathered from participants in Chevrolet’s electric vehicle demonstration fleets from India, Shanghai and Korea. A123 Systems will supply the advanced nanophosphate lithium-ion battery packs that will power the Spark EV. Details on specific markets, range, quantities and pricing will be announced later.

“The Spark EV offers customers living in urban areas who have predictable driving patterns or short commutes an all-electric option,” said Jim Federico, global vehicle chief engineer for electric vehicles at Chevrolet. “It complements Chevrolet’s growing range of electrified vehicles, including the Volt extended-range EV and the 2013 Malibu Eco with eAssist technology.”

GM will soon start manufacturing a right-hand-drive version of its popular Chevrolet Volt electric car and there is a possibility of it coming to our shores as well.

The Chevrolet Malibu sold in the US comes with a partial hybrid system called E-Assist - a 15Kw electric motor. This system could soon make its way to the Chevrolet Cruze.