The company plans to launch three (make that four, only the Spark / Matiz isn’t quite ready) cars in 2006 and the marketing head feels that this is the year of GM. Yes, and this is also the year when the US of A starts getting addicted to health food. If selling a little more than 2000 cars a month is GM India’s idea of dominating 2006 then the guys seriously need to look outside the windows of their plush office building to see the road below which is choc-a-bloc with Suzukis and Hyundais.
The car launch (actually, it was just an unveiling to bask in the Auto Expo’s warmth) was a testimony to why GM is slowly heading towards bankruptcy. Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the Aveo U-VA (no that’s supposed to only rhyme and is not an acronym…oooaaah, oova, uva, get it? No? Nevermind.) Promptly a dance trope started their gig. After about five minutes of irritating loud music, one could start making out that this is the hatchback version of the Aveo. Car no.2, this is the Aveo. The four-door I mean. Now came a fusion performance (it was good, thank you GM, I forgive you) featuring the Parikrama guitarist Sonam Sherpa and some other guys. Sonam has really bloated though that has thankfully not affected his string plucking capability. Car no. 3, the five door version of the Lacetti / Optra to be sold as the Optra SR-V (yes that is an acronym, SR-V stands for Sports Recreational Vehicle. Go Honda, sue them!), a five door hatchback that GM hopes to use as a brand builder. Then came the earlier troupe again, only in wilder ensemble and louder music accompanied by some cheerleading calls. Groan!
And it wasn’t finished yet. As soon as the emcee (Meyhar Bhasin, I hope thats how she spells her name now) had finished explaining that this was the most important event in Indian history after independence, the same troupe returned yet again, thankfully this time to the Chevrolet theme. Now I treally love the Chevrolet theme music, probably the only thing that I love about GM India’s marketing, but I think that GM has reached the end of the road as far as the theme music’s iterations are concerned.
Most irritatingly, the press kits did not have any specifications or prices. They just wanted to unveil the cars, you see. launch will be starting next month and I am sure that the price announcements will be another reason to do a press con. No wonder they are losing money.