[trek]

Just saw the update on 99cars.com. This is hardly a facelift!

The interiors and exteriors are the same with just some minor modifications. The geniuses at Chevy India did not even bother with changing the location of the power window switches! Welcome to another lousy half hearted attempt by GM India.



Below are the details as listed on the 99cars website:

GM India has improved the cabin with the introduction of dual tone beige interiors, higher quality materials, some chrome accents and some new features. The updated Sail comes with Chevrolet Corvette-inspired dual cockpit design, which has new soothing icy blue illumination. The new 2 – DIN music system has Bluetooth functionality. It supports up to five phone pairings and music streaming. New chrome surrounds for the AC vent bezel and HVAC control knobs along with silver surrounds for door handles and the gear shifter lend a classy appeal to the interior.
New Chevrolet Sail Facelift Exterior

On the exterior, the upcoming Chevrolet Sail hatchback and sedan will get a different alloy design, added chrome garnish around fog lamps and blacked out B-pillar for a more sporty appearance. The Sail is available in six exterior colours: Velvet Red (Sedan only), Super Red (Hatchback only), Switchblade Silver, Summit White, Caviar Black, Linen Beige and Sandrift Grey.

New Chevrolet Sail facelift Engine

Under the bonnet, the Chevrolet Sail hatchback and sedan will continue to use a 1.2-litre petrol engine capable of producing 85 bhp of peak power. A 1.3-litre TCDi diesel will also be on offer. This engine puts out 77 bhp @ 4000 rpm and is claimed to deliver a mileage of 22.1 km/lt. Both cars come with 5-speed manual transmissions as standard.

[Amarkarthi]

The chinese face-lift of the SAIL looks more better than the Indian one in my opinion. I really don't understand if Chevrolet ever thinks what the perception of an Indian customer would be. The interiors of the SAIL models are really un-inspiring and way too boring and it goes on with the awkward look of the exteriors (No offence to any SAIL owners personally and I'm really sorry if I hurt).

I still remember the discussion between me and my wife an year back when we were deciding on our first car. My wife simply told a big NO to SAIL inspite of her close friend recommending it just for the fact that the interiors are very boring.

[e46]

I am intrigued why GM India still doesnt consider launching the Chevrolet Sonic here. That was one good looking car with contemporary interiors. We would certainly have loved it.

Abhishek //M

[trek]

Originally Posted by e46

I am intrigued why GM India still doesnt consider launching the Chevrolet Sonic here. That was one good looking car with contemporary interiors. We would certainly have loved it.

Abhishek //M

+1, The Sonic looks contemporary and would have competed well with the i20, Swift and the upcoming Jazz.

Its a pity Chevy does not have any concrete strategies for India.

[deehunk]

Chevy misses a leader like Karl Sym, wonder what Maruti would have done with a 1.0L diesel engine leave apart the 1.3L. The plastic quality was horrible and cheap on Sail twins, it suffered from unconventional rear looks, misplaced horn pad, dull looking interior colors, all this could have been corrected again they missed a chance. Spark was available in neighbouring Pakistan with 0.8L engine, they did not bring it here. GM clearly lacks a sales attitude, they may windup very soon looking at their sales chart.

[motorworks]

At least the Etios made its life as a Taxi! The sail fails miserably at even this! GM should just shut shop and walk away rather than keep launching their Chinese partner's cars in chevy's name. Indian customers are not naive, not a bit.
Classic example is Hyundai- they treat India with paramount importance and launch the most updated products here. And they are met with decent success.

[Aksthedreamer]

That is the ugliest looking steering wheel I have ever seen in any car.
Though the interiors now look much better that those cheesy light brown interiors of the previous sails, they still need a completely new design if Chevrolet are actually serious about competing in this difficult Indian market.
Wonder what goes on in the minds of the higher management, why cant they bring better cars from their global portfolio to India?
If they have actually given up, they should shut shops and pack off instead of introducing such half hearted attempts.

[mi2n]

This is purely a salvage operation and by that yardstick GMI has done well and made the dull and drab interiors feel a bit more premium. The Sail sedan is a decent looking and proportionate Sedan offering most of the segment defining features alongwith a properly tuned, proven diesel mill and drivetrain, it is atleast more pleasing to the eye than the similarly priced wierd looking compact sedans ( from the outside). It is only the interiors that utterly disappointed, especially because it was replacing the Aveo sedan which carried classy interiors. It's just a nip and tuck job and for that I find the effort acceptable.

The Sail shouldn't be discarded just because it is Chinese. Or is it? Doesn't it have German underpinnings?

And please, for the sake of existing GM customers / employees / vendors, don't wish GMI to shut shop or leave, just because they "do not take the Indian market seriously". Neither does Toyota, Honda, Nissan-Renault, Ford, Fiat, VW and for that matter even Suzuki to certain extent.

[bblost]

With almost 17,000 kms completed in my lovely Sail Uva LT Petrol, I love a couple of these changes.

The black dashboard and the double din would have helped me make up my mind even faster when I bought this last year.

This is one of the MOST UNDERRATED cars in India.

[gsurya]

As a proud & happy owner of an Aveo that has run 50K in 5 years, amused by some comments here.

GM pioneered the best maintenance & service plan in India (Chevy Promise) which is now copied by Tata Zest. The cars are solid & reliable and spares not too expensive, except for the Captiva.

Tavera & Enjoy are loved by taxi operators. Sail was a great hatchback at a bad time. SRV was a superb product but wrongly timed & didnt have a diesel. So its not that GM doesnt take the market seriously.

New refreshed Sail U-VA & Sedan are very good products & compare well if they are analyzed technically against the competition, hope we see a TBHP review soon.

India is a tough market to operate in where top 3 get 85% of market share & the rest have to battle for the rest.

GM hasnt had a blockbuster like Renault-Duster or Ford-Ecosport, it needs to find one in the next couple of years.

[Aksthedreamer]

Originally Posted by mi2n

And please, for the sake of existing GM customers / employees / vendors, don't wish GMI to shut shop or leave, just because they "do not take the Indian market seriously". Neither does Toyota, Honda, Nissan-Renault, Ford, Fiat, VW and for that matter even Suzuki to certain extent.

I own and drive a chevy car too, the optra. Everytime I sit in it, it brings a smile on my face.
May be this is the reason I am disappointed by their latest offerings, I am spoilt by the optra so the expectations are high from Chevrolet. Another reason to be disappointed is that we all know how good the brand chevrolet is, they can definitely hit the competition on face if they decide to.

[trek]

The thing is even with these updates, the Chevy won't measure up to the current competition going by the customer's perception. This was a good opportunity to update certain dull looking parts and make the car look contemporary.

This refresh will be also lost in the crowd just like it happened to the original model at launch.

The Sail definitely is a decent car; just that Chevy does not take efforts (right kind of) to make it appealing to the mass market.

[mi2n]

Originally Posted by Aksthedreamer

I own and drive a chevy car too, the optra. Everytime I sit in it, it brings a smile on my face.
May be this is the reason I am disappointed by their latest offerings, I am spoilt by the optra so the expectations are high from Chevrolet. Another reason to be disappointed is that we all know how good the brand chevrolet is, they can definitely hit the competition on face if they decide to.

The Optra was replaced by the Cruze, which bettered the already competent Optra in all departments except interior space. The Cruze fought tooth and nail with the segment leader (funnily the rather lack luster Toyota Corolla). The U-VA should have ideally been replaced by the Chevy Sonic (i20/Polo category) and the Aveo with a sedan version of the Sonic hatchback (Verna/City territory) but that would have created a void for Chevy in the mid-range B+ and C segment, this is where the SAIC twins perfectly fit in. This is the segment that is currently generating volumes for the likes of Suzuki, Hyundai and Honda in India and with big and established players like Toyota(Etios), Honda(Amaze), etc. flooding this segment with cheap,built for India (read sub-standard and compromised) cars, GMI just followed suit albeit with not-so-compromised cars. It is the horses for courses rule. Otherwise GM did do an industry first by "world premiering" the Beat, their new global hatchback, in India in an era where the Indian automobile market was quite content with decade old Euro/Jap leftovers.

[puchoo]

Well it does a look a bit more inspiring and a bit edgy than it was before but i dont believe this is enough if GM is expecting hoards of people to suddenly start buying this car. Their problem was never the car to some extent to begin with , i am sure the SAIL will serve as a good trustworthy workhorse for many - the problem was that they never really managed to get any excitement created for it.

Their advertising is misleading as well with them proclaiming 15 new features in yesterdays papers across the country - image attached - if you take a look a lot of them are just cosmetic enhancements if at all one can call them that. In my opinion the one's below are off the table right from the beginning in terms of calling them features to begin with - go to a Alibaba and half if not all of these things can be carried out at home.

Chrome AC vent Bezel
Chrome garnish on center vent
Silver door handle surround
Silver gear shifter bezel
Silver I/P stack center bezel
HVAC controller with chrome decor
Silver HVAC fan switch
Steering wheel with golden bowtie

So that drops the list down to 7 out of which 2 tone dashboard , leatherette upholstery , back-light power window switches and 2 din audio system are probably the meatiest.

[libranof1987]

Don't you just love it when chrome additions, a dual-tone interior and a different set of alloys are considered worthy an update.

Yay, us!

I really wish manufacturers added value every time they updated a vehicle.