DETROIT — General Motors, which popularized the 7,800-pound Hummer, may begin selling a minicar more than a foot shorter than anything else it markets in the U.S. to win back buyers deterred by record fuel prices.
GM may bring the production version of the Chevrolet Beat to the U.S., people familiar with the plan said. The car, normally reserved for markets such as Asia and Latin America, gets as much as 40 mpg, a fuel efficiency topped in the U.S. only by hybrids.
The possible American introduction of the Beat would be one step in a fleet downsizing and shift away from fossil- fuel-based vehicles that the sources said is already underway at Detroit-based GM.
Resigned to $4-a-gallon gasoline and stricter pollution rules, the largest U.S. automaker has recognized that its response must go beyond the mothballing of large truck plants, the sources said.
“This is a very big change for GM,” said John Wolkonowicz, an analyst at Global Insight in Lexington, Mass. “They have no choice. There’s never been as rapid a shift in consumer demand in the history of the auto industry.”
Besides the Beat, GM is weighing a list of options for refocusing its auto lineup on fuel efficiency rather than performance. They include the U.S. introduction of a small pickup popular in Latin America and an expansion of the number of versions of the Volt plug-in electric car, the people said.
GM is also trying to increase production and speed up availability of the successor to the Chevy Cobalt sedan and develop a fuel-efficient alternative to the Cadillac Escalade sport utility vehicle, they said.
“We are looking at and reviewing our entire portfolio, not just because gasoline is $4 but because of stricter government fuel-economy regulations,” GM spokesman Dee Allen said, referring to U.S. requirements that automakers reduce fuel use by 40 percent by 2020.
He declined to discuss specific projects.
At about 138 inches long, the Beat would be among the smallest cars sold in the U.S. Only the 106-inch Smart car is shorter.
Sales of the smallest cars in the U.S. have risen 31 percent this year as the industry total fell 10 percent and the largest SUVs 31 percent.
GM reported a 21 percent plunge in U.S. sales of pickups, SUVs and vans for the first six months.
TALE OF THE TAPE
Chevy Hummer H2
Length: 190 inches
Mileage: 13 mpg
Engine: 6.2-liter V8
Horses: 393
Wheels: 20 inches
Chevy Beat
Length: 138 inches
Mileage: 40 mpg
Engine: 1.2-liter turbo
Horses: N/A
Wheels: 17 inches
