GM has announced that worldwide sales of the Chevy Spark have surpassed the 1 million mark, five years after the model was introduced in India in 2009 as the Chevrolet Beat.

Available in 71 markets worldwide, the Chevrolet Spark is particularly successful in South Korea, United States and Mexico – the three biggest markets for the city car. In the United States, sales of the Spark are up 10 percent year to date.

“Our small cars – Spark, Sonic and Cruze – attract more new car buyers to Chevrolet than any other vehicles in the lineup, with more than 60 percent of buyers never owning a Chevy before,” said Alan Batey, executive vice president of Global Chevrolet.

Chevrolet’s small car lineup (including the Spark) also attracts the youngest buyers to the brand. This year, sales of Chevrolet small cars have risen more than 9 percent for car buyers under the age of 35.

The Spark offers young, connected buyers features like Siri Eyes Free and the available MyLink infotainment system with a 7-inch diagonal color touch-screen display and available built-in OnStar 4G LTE. The built-in Wi-Fi hotspot allows up to seven devices to be connected at one time.

In the US, the Spark is offered with an Ecotec 1.2-liter four-cylinder engine with continuously variable valve timing that delivers 84 horsepower. Mated to a standard five-speed manual transmission or an available continuously variable transmission (CVT), the engine returns 39 mpg (6 l/100 km) on the highway.

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