Launched on February 1, 2013, Chevrolet Sail sedan has bagged more than 1000 bookings within just 10 days of its launch. Industry experts believe that the success of Sail lies in its aggressive pricing, which has created a buzz in the entry level sedan segment. The American auto maker has introduced its model in both petrol and diesel engine options, in order to meet the demands of a large section of society. Reportedly, a major chunk of sales were driven by the diesel guise of 2013 Sail sedan over its petrol version.
Coming to the future plans of General Motors India, the auto maker is looking ahead to take the sales figures of Sail platform models to around 48,000 by the end of current year. According to sources, the auto company is concentrating on driving the sales in domestic market as of now, in spite of looking at exports. However, the model is shipped to around 16 countries from GM’s China manufacturing unit.
GM believes that the sluggish Indian auto market condition will soon recover in 2013 as the interest rates have brought down by a margin. The auto maker has been operating in the country for last 17 years albeit, it was unable to turn the tides in its favour. However, GM India is hoping for the same in a few couple of years as it has introduced a number of models in mass segment. Chevrolet Spark, Sail, Enjoy and Tavera are some of the highlights of the same, which might take the niche of bowtie to new heights.
The company’s Vice President for Corporate Affairs, P. Balendran said that the auto maker is targeting the sales of around 300 units per month in Kerela. He further added that in 2012, GM India has delivered 8,500 units in Kerela and these figures are expected to reach 13,500 by the end of 2013. However, he also said that the recent cut of 25 points by the RBI is not enough to boost the overall Indian auto sector. According to him, till the interest rates come down significantly, the market will not witness a significant change as a number of buyers in India depend on finance.
