The South Korean unit of General Motors Corp. said Monday it will begin selling the Chevrolet Spark mini-car in the United States in 2011 as part of the U.S. parent’s push to focus on smaller, fuel-efficient models.

What’s more, automakers can bring microcars to market at relatively low cost, since they already have developed the platforms for foreign markets, where they often sell extremely well.

“We’ve been thinking about dipping our toe into this market for a while now,” said Troy Clarke, GM’s president of North America. He predicts that the Spark, which will go on sale in Europe next year prior to coming stateside in 2011, could be a big success.

“It could be a 90,000 or more volume vehicle,” he said, adding that the company could consider an electric version.

The Spark is a microcar currently sold in markets including India and South America, but this new car has pretty much nothing to do with it. It takes all it’s styling for the Beat and, unlike the Spark, will actually be sold in North America. Originally, the triplet of concept cars was not meant for the American market.

But, apparently, the market has changed enough (and it has certainly changed) that pretty much the whole world will be able to buy one.