General Motors India VP, Mr P Balendran has confirmed that GM has temporarily stopped production of the Sail sedan and hatchback diesel variants from June 5 and Tavera BS III model from the following day. The step was taken to rectify the quality issues with the Sail models, while the BS III Tavera is put on hold due to niggles related to the emissions.
Though the delay in production is confirmed, a word on possible recalling of already sold units is not out yet, but the VP has vouched to come out with an official statement on it soon. GM has however confirmed that neither of the issues is safety related and is not one that concerns the petrol variants of the Sail or the Tevara BS-IV. Hence, the production and sales of these models will continue unaffected.
GM has informed their dealers about the issue and has advised to spread the word for the possible delay in delivery of previous bookings for these models. The Sail sedan and hatchback variants currently sell around 5000 units together – 60-70% of these are diesel variants.
We are expecting GM to issue a recall soon at least for the Sail; the existing customers will certainly want updated and better quality fitments. If Chevrolet makes an announcement soon, this will be the third recall in India in quick succession, after Mahindra, Nissan and Renault made similar announcements in past few weeks. These call backs though revealing possible flaws in the units, they can also be seen as a positive sign as car makers are standing up for their mistakes and are willing to correct the flaws.