The Chevrolet Spark may serve as the platform for a future electric car developed jointly by General Motors India and Reva, an electric car company in Bangalore.
With sales of the Chevrolet Volt still more than a year away, General Motors has announced the next wave in the company’s green-car initiative: a fully electric powered vehicle (without a gas engine to extend driving range), developed jointly by G.M. India and Reva, an electric-car company based in Bangalore.
For the moment, the project remains long on promise but short on details. G.M. India and Reva stated in a news release that “the two companies have begun feasibility studies of G.M.’s vehicle platforms sometime back to host the electric technology and they will announce more details about the vehicles soon.”
Reva has sold electric cars since 2001 but has had mixed results outside of India. In Europe, celebrities flocked to the Reva (to look “green”) while auto journalists bemoaned its poor quality and lack of safety features.
In many countries, the Reva is speed-limited to around 30 miles an hour, which qualifies it as a city car (or “quadricycle” depending on the market). This negates the fitment of air bags and the need to meet crash-test regulations on par with normal production cars.
G.M. is bound to demand a higher level of performance and safety in its own electric vehicle. While specifics remain scarce, the new electric car could be based on the upcoming Chevrolet Spark. The current Spark hatchback, built in Pune, India, is G.M. India’s best selling model. It is due for a complete redesign next year and scheduled to arrive in the United States in 2011.
G.M. has also announced plans to develop a low-cost car specifically for India. Priced to compete with up-market versions of the Tata Nano – purported to be the world’s cheapest car, with a starting price of roughly $2,000 – the as-yet-unnamed G.M. city car could also make a perfect home for Reva’s electric powertrain know-how.
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