Brushing aside rumours of taking Tata Motors' [Get Quote] Nano head on, General Motors announced on Wednesday that it would launch its minicar next year from its Halol plant. Karl Slym, president and managing director of General Motors India Private Limited, said the company would launch Chevrolet Cruze, its new offering in the Chevrolet Spark segment, by third quarter of its financial year ended December 2009.

Slym added, "The car will be priced similar to Chevrolet Spark. As far as the minicar is concerned, we are not competing with Tata Motors' Nano, which is a different segment."

On the retail side, General Motors has tied up with state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation [Get Quote] Limited to set up Chevrolet service stations across the PSU's petrol and diesel retail outlets.

Photograph: Courtesy chevrolet.com