In what comes as a surprising bit of info here, the new SAIL U-VA hatchback is touted to be powered by a 1.4L engine petrol engine and not a 1.2L motor as was naturally expected earlier.
In an interview, Lowell Paddock, President and Managing Director of General Motors in India, revealed that the new Sail U-VA will be offered with a 1.4L petrol and 1.3L diesel engine. While we already knew three things out here;
- First, that the Sail twins would replace Aveo twins;
- Second, that Sail would be called as Sail U-VA and
- Third, that the diesel 1.3L motor is the same 1248cc Fiat sourced Multi-Jet engine.
But inclusion of 1.4L petrol engine is a big surprise for all of us here.
It was clearly expected that Sail hatch would get the 1.2L petrol mill from Beat which produces 80.5PS of power and 108Nm of torque. It’s a little hard to digest what might be going through Chevrolet’s mind!
What Chevrolet Stands to loose from this?
The most important bit – Excise duty benefits. According to our Indian norms, for a car to be considered under the lowest excise duties it should fall under the ‘Small car’ category. Small cars attract lowest 12 percent excise tax. The criteria for Small cars:
- Less than 4 meters : Yes
- Less than 1500cc for Diesels: Yes, Sail’s Multijet is 1248cc
- Less than 1200cc for Petrols: NO! Sail petrol would be 1399cc if it borrows Aveo’s engine
- And this simply means, Sail petrol would be considered as a ‘medium’ car and would attract 24% Excise duty on Sail’s petrol variant, double of what it should have.
- This would create more problems for Chevrolet. Not only would it be difficult for them to price it competitively w.r.t the competition but it would be even more difficult to differentiate the petrol and diesel variants within, since the diesel is eligible for 12% excise duty.
- Sales of petrol cars are falling big time because of rising petrol prices, the 1.4L Sail would be less frugal as compared to the 1.2L motor. And hence another apprehension is sure to strike potential buyers!
- SAIL U-VA has not garnered a big hype or response from the masses and not many seem to be very much glued to this product till now.
Chevrolet is scheduled to launch Sail UVA hatchback around September-November this year. Along with this hatch, Chevrolet also would be launching Enjoy MPV and Spark facelift this year itself. Sail sedan is expected to get launched somewhere early next year.
We just hope Lowell Paddock has missed a couple of hundred ccs here and pray it is the 1.2L engine from Beat which makes it to the hatch (in a better tune though), for the betterment of the product. Else, odds do not point to a shining story here!
News Source: Zigwheels
