Reference Auto

Unfazed by the slowdown in auto sales, General Motors or GM, after rolling out the Chevrolet Sail U-VA hatchback in India recently, has brought in a sedan version of this car, which it has termed the Chevrolet Sail, to take on the likes of Renault’s Scala, Maruti Suzuki’s Swift, Toyota Etios, Volkswagen Vento, Hyundai Verna along with Nissan’s Sunny, among others, and apparently pave the way for phase out of its sedan, the Aveo.

The pricing of the Sail has been done very astutely and comes for Rs 4.99 lakh, making it among the cheapest sedans in the country. However, the top diesel variant is priced a tad on the higher side at Rs 7.6 lakh.

The Sail sedan, in both the petrol and diesel versions, will come with the same engines used on the hatchback.

The sedan will have a 1.3 litre turbo-charged diesel engine and a 1.2 litre petrol engine.

The Sail sedan offers 86 PS @ 6,000 rpm and 113 Nm @ 4,400 rpm, while the diesel car is propelled by the Fiat 1.3 litre Multijet engine, which comes with 78 PS @4,000 rpm and 205 Nm @ 1,750 rpm.

The Sail is believed to have a fuel efficiency of 22.1 km per litre, which is simply great for a sedan.

The width and the wheelbase of the Sail sedan and Sail U-VA hatchback are the same, and hence, there is no additional space in the Sail sedan.

However, the Sail sedan has spacious interiors, enough boot space (370 litres) and offers a comfortable ride along with stability. It comes with more than adequate power in both petrol and diesel versions and all these factors could make it a favourite among entry-level sedan buyers.

The Chevrolet Sail sedan is based on the same platform as the hatchback Sail U-VA, which was rolled out just three months ago and is part of the high-end hatchbacks in the country, with a price of over Rs 4.3 lakh (ex showroom).

The Sail U-VA was designed and developed by General Motor’s Chinese joint venture firm SAIC at the Pan-Asia Technical Automotive unit located in Shanghai.

But there were a number of alterations in the Indian version to suit customer requirements in the country.

The Chevrolet Sail sedan has impressive safety features like speed sensitive auto door locks, anti-lock brake system (ABS) and electronic brake force distribution (EBD).

It has a string of other safety features like airbags, seat belts with pre-tensioner, crumple zones, collapsible steering system and side impact beams along doors.

With most auto companies bringing in new cars and phasing out old ones amid the slowdown (like it could be end of days for the Aveo), Chevrolet has brought in the snazzy-looking Sail, which could ring in the cash registers for GM (owing to its judicious pricing), if the American auto giant launches a proper ad blitz.