GM to unveil diesel Optra

General Motors (GM) subsidiary Chevrolet will introduce a diesel engine option in Optra by April-May this year. Currently, the car is only available with petrol engine.

With this development, the car will be in direct competition with Hyundai's Elantra, Skoda's Octavia Rider and Mitsibushi's Lancer. The company has refused to divulge price details but the industry experts believe it to be priced competitively.

"We plan to launch the car by April-May this year.The car will have the best in-class comfort coupled with superior driving manners because of its common rail engine backgrounds," said Ankush Arora, vice-president, marketing sales, General Motors.

The engine was jointly developed by General Motors Daewoo Auto and Technology (GMDAT), GM Powertrain and VM Motori of Italy. The engine will comply with Euro IV emission standards and will feature design details that offer step improvements in noise, vibration and harshness levels.

GM would source the engine from its South Korean GMDAT plant. The car will have a 2.0 litre common rail engine which would produce 125 bhp of power. This is relatively more powerful than 2.0 litre CRDi Elantra that makes 112bhp of power and 1.9 TDi Skoda Octavia which produces 90 bhp.

GM is also panning to put up a diesel power train facility in the country where it will produce a number of diesel engines of different capacities and specifications.

The company is expected to source the engines from the facility in the future. The company will also launch a sports utility vehicle (SUV) Captiva in the later half of the current year.