Chevrolet Beat Essentia compact sedan to be unveiled at Auto Expo 2016

The sub-compact sedan segment in India has been growing at a swift pace and Chevrolet does not want to be left behind. It was reported that General Motors India has been working on a compact sedan based on the Beat hatchback and the latest report indicates the vehicle is ready to be unveiled at Auto Expo 2016.

The compact sedan has been named as the Beat Essentia according to ET Auto. The car will be a sub-four metre model to avail excise duty reduction from Government of India for small cars. The excise duty reduction is expected to reflect in competitive pricing.

Codenamed MCM, the Beat Essentia will be based on the new-generation Beat's M300 platform. The company has been working on this compact sedan since 2013 and is expected to be launched in 2017 along with the new generation Beat that has been planned for India. The compact sedan is expected to share much of its styling details with the next-gen Beat. Both the Beat siblings are also expected to share components, though specific details are unknown.

The Beat Essentia will be available in both petrol and diesel mills borrowed from the current Beat hatchback. The Beat petrol is powered by a 1199cc four-cylinder unit that develops 77bhp at 6200rpm and 106.5Nm of torque, while the diesel model has a 936cc three-cylinder engine that develops 56bhp at 4000rpm and 124.5Nm of torque at 1750rpm. Both the engines are mated to 5 speed manual transmission.

Apart from the Beat Essentia, GM will showcase the 2017 Beat hatchback with rugged exterior add-ons -- widely considered as the Beat Cross concept.