Spied - Chevrolet Captiva facelift
The crossover segment is in the verge of witnessing plenty of action over the next few years. BMW set the ball rolling with the X1. The Renault Koleos joined in this year and we're aware of Mercedes Benz developing a rival on the MFA for 2013. Honda's new CR-V is making waves on the internet as we write this and Audi's Q3, completing test runs in Mumbai is also due next year.
Crowding is unavoidable for existing players as they have no control over the competition's actions. The least they can do is refresh their products, offer automatic transmission if they haven't already, drop a special edition and perhaps adjust the price to keep them in contention.
GM India do the exact same things with the Captiva. Caught testing by Kaustubh Shinde while he was returning to Mumbai from the Renault Pulse unveiling in New Delhi, this Captiva is now available in most parts of the world after it was shown in Paris last year. Under its hood is a new 163bhp 2.2-liter VCDI engine. Currently the Captiva shares its 2-liter CRDI engine with the Cruze and the Optra Magnum.
We suspect the 2.2-liter engine is firing on this camouflaged mule that's taking no chances with revealing its restitched face before D-Day.
Marketing executives at General Motors India have told IndianAutosBlog.com that the refreshed Captiva does not feature on the model plan for 2011. GM could be making arrangement to exhibit the new arrival at the Auto Expo next year in January.