More from Chevrolet
H. Kishie Singh

GENERAL Motors has brought in a car which, according to them, is the new name for luxury. It is called Optra. It’s going to be one of the sleekest cars on the road. With its three-piece grill sandwiched between crystal clear headlights and the Chevy bow-tie logo in the centre, it declares its heritage loud and clear.

However, there is a little more under the skin. The bow-tie (The Chevy Symbol) is an excellent example of badging. Take whatever you want, from wherever, put it all together and you have a car. Made in many places! A Korean car, put together in India, in this case.

This sourcing is also another very fine example of "l’ve got my fingers in many pies." General Motors has interests in many companies across the world. The car comes from their newly acquired Daewoo facilities in Korea. Had Daewoo not done a belly-up, this car would have hit the road as Daewoo Nubira. GM liked the car but not its guts. So the engine is from Australia. It’s a Holden engine. Holden is G.M. Australia. So GM had no trouble getting a state of the art engine. The 1.8-litre engine is referred to as D.TEC. It has 4 cylinders, 16 valves, double overhead can with a 32 bit ECM. It puts out 115 b.h.p. at 5,800 r.p.m.

As is to be expected, the Optra has power steering, rack and pinion with tilt facility and is collapsable in case of a collision. It’s a 4-spoke steering with an air bag. The streeing wheel also has a built-in remote control for the audio system.

The Optra is well up in the safety department. There are 3-point seat belts for all occupants. It has ventilated disc brakes in the front and drums at the rear. I wonder why? I would expect four discs in a car of this calibre. What you don’t see but is very much a part of the Optra safety package is the steel safety cage, built-in crash bars, crumple zones, SRS air bags. The Optra offers world-class safety. This is to be expected from GM and Opel and they do deliver the goods.

The Optra has an all-wheel independent suspension (AWIS) with McPherson struts at all four corners. There are stabiliser bars both at the front and the rear. The rear McPherson struts are with dual links. The shock absorbers are filled with gas.

Other than the sleek looks and high-gloss paint on the outside, it is the interior that will impress. It is spacious, extremely well appointed and the wood and leather scream luxury. You have the arm rest for the driver, and an arm rest for the rear seat which has cup holders. The rear seat has a 60-40 split to fold down. The glove box remains cool! It will hold a couple of cans of whatever. And the chocolate bar won’t melt on a hot day. The exterior mirrors are electronically adjustable. A tilt and slide electronic sun roof is also available.

What is of tremendous use are the cubby holes and trays to hold odds and ends. People have a habit of living in their cars. It can’t be helped. You need a place for your sun glasses, cell phone, may be a pad and pencil.

The Optra utilises space which has not been made use of so far. There is convenient storage under the front two seats. It helps to get you organised.

This car also uses special noise-absorbing materials.

With the Optra, GM is hoping to make a dent into a segment where they had a very low profile. The Optra comes in three variants. Optra, Optra LS and top of the line Optra LD.

Happy motoring!