The Chevrolet Optra is GM India's second step towards extending the brand's sweep in the segmented Indian passenger car market and is also a furtherance of the company's plans to offer more affordable vehicles. This will also ensure that the Opel brand can be given an even more premium positioning in future. That done, hopefully we will also be able to see some of the more recent, upmarket Opel models on Indian roads soon.
The new C2 or C+ segment (as the company would like to call it) Chevrolet Optra has been developed by GM on a combined GM-Daewoo platform, according to company officials. Visually, the car's close resemblance to the Daewoo Nubira is partly explained by the new platform's lineage. The frontal view of the car gives away the Korean influence.
But the side and rear profile are clearly GM. The strong, gradually rising shoulder lines and the angular, wrap around, attention grabbing tail-lamp cluster are easily the most striking Chevy traits of the car. When GM India decided to launch the next Chevy after the Forester, which is as yet to be rolled out in the Western markets, the Optra would have looked like a good choice, especially as the company was losing market share in the C/ D segments to new entrants. The Optra is being positioned as a luxurious, upmarket option in the C segment, while it also more than caters to the stiffer demands of the entry-level D-segment car buyer. The European styling of the car, the crystal lens head and tail lamps and the small luxury imprints, such as the radio antenna, being printed onto the rear windscreen are all meant to attract this kind of a customer. The Optra's aerodynamic body is complemented by such stylish embellishments as contemporary chrome radiator grille and five-pointed alloy wheels, the "jewel effect" dual bulb headlamps and sparkling rear lamps and an electronically controlled tilt and slide sunroof.
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