[prakasse]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

LS ABS is 20K more than the Figo Titanium. Compared to the Figo you lose:

1. Alloy wheels
2. Rear wiper/ defogger
3. Passenger airbag
4. remote keyless entry

In return you get the better MJD engine.

Still, i feel SAIL is overpriced. They should have priced it on par with Figo and taken the fight with Ford. My friends were waiting for SAIL pricing and they are disappointed. So, they are going to pick up the new Ford titanium[diesel]. Difference in 60K also adds up significant amount in road tax and insurance. Also Chevy commands the lowest resale value compared to Maruti and Ford.

I feel Rear defogger is very useful, it comes handy during rainy season.
And i don't understand the policy of providing airbag for the driver alone. what about my co-passenger [wife] sitting next to me. How do i explain the selection of driver airbag only variant to my co-passenger. The company's strategy is to automatically push the buyers to go for the top variant.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by RSR

2) Does the car come with an ECU controlled rolling code engine immobilizer, like the i-CATS system of Maruti Suzuki, for instance? Almost all cars have such an immobilizer these days, but Chevrolet has failed to provide it on many of its models such as the Spark, Beat etc.

From the brochure:


cya
R

[sups]

Originally Posted by prakasse

Still, i feel SAIL is overpriced. They should have priced it on par with Figo and taken the fight with Ford. My friends were waiting for SAIL pricing and they are disappointed.

+1 to that. This LT price might be justified if they would have provided better interior, ACC and seat height adjustment atleast.

VFM Figo looks more VFM now.

[deehunk]

This should be final nail in the coffin for GM in India, the pricing clearly shows they dont understand the pulse of Indian public, they could have even tried at launching only diesel version of SAIL-UVA and saved cost in the assembly line, they also may have spent some money in retuning the petrol engine to India. In India except Spark never has their petrol car made any mark or has had a positive outlook, they still want to try their luck with Petrol version and suffer further more.

[rock75]

Originally Posted by jessie007

Features now updated on website as well

http://www.chevrolet.co.in/vehicles/...nvenience.html

LS ABS seems like a good deal. LS is priced only 35k less, but loses out on music system and ABS.

Petrol base seems like is a price lead-in, like Liva's 'J' variant, but thankfully has power steering.

Also diesel's fuel tank capacity is 2 litres less than petrol's - 40 vs 42 litres. Quite strange!

ARAI mileage also quite good for a car weighing in at 1065 kgs (P) & 1134 (D) - 18.20 kmpl petrol & 22.10 kmpl diesel.

Well Sail-UVA's petrol base model offers much more than Swift Lxi, it has got similar ARAI mileage and power figures but has got front power windows, tilt steering, power ORVMs and 60:4 rear seat split! Way to go, GM, look at maruti they provide barebone LXi as base model with just AC and power steering.

Still I feel GM could have had 'introductory pricing' of say Rs 20000 lower for first few months to make a bigger impact. I'm sure they will give discounts on petrol model, may be even on diesel in a few months time, just like for petrol Beat.

[suhaas307]

So I visited the Kropex Chevrolet showroom on 100ft Road Indiranagar this evening just to get a glimpse of it and here are some of my observations:

• I did not experience much difficulty while attempting to fold the rear seats. This is something I struggled to do in the media-drive car. It still isn't 'Jazz' easy, but it wasn't getting stuck like in the media-drive car.

• Operating some of the switches on the center-console as well as the indicator / wiper stalks was a much better experience. There was no audible 'clicking' noise when pressed and they felt 'damped'.

Other than these two points, I felt like I drove pretty much the same car!

EDIT:

Originally Posted by prakasse

Still, i feel SAIL is overpriced. They should have priced it on par with Figo and taken the fight with Ford.

Originally Posted by sups

+1 to that. This LT price might be justified if they would have provided better interior, ACC and seat height adjustment atleast.

VFM Figo looks more VFM now.

I understand what you guys are saying. It's 60k more than the Figo, it's a little more than the Liva, etc. But let's weight the options properly here and compare them fairly.

The Figo's plus points are decent interior space, diesel engine and feature-packed @ a little over 7 lakhs OTR and that makes it incredible value-for-money! Enthusiasts will love the fact that the Figo is a sharp and sure-footed handler as well.

But the Ford does have some issues. One being low GC. The ride is quite stiff too. The engines are old, not quite refined and not as frugal either.

The Sail U-VA manages to correct some of these faults. The GC is good and the ride-quality is excellent to say the least. It does not handle as well as the Ford, but it's neutral. The engine is more modern, more refined, surprisingly silent and much more efficient. You also get a whole lot more space on the inside than the Figo.

So IMO, you get a more sorted car for 60k extra. The question is, will you be prepared to spend 60k over and above the Figo's 7.2 OTR tag and benefit from a better ride, better economy and more space? If there is no way you can spend that 60k extra, then buy the Ford. If every 1000 rupee note pinches you, buy the Figo. But if it doesn't, the U-VA still makes more sense to me.

Originally Posted by deehunk

This should be final nail in the coffin for GM in India, the pricing clearly shows they dont understand the pulse of Indian public, they could have even tried at launching only diesel version of SAIL-UVA and saved cost in the assembly line, they also may have spent some money in retuning the petrol engine to India. In India except Spark never has their petrol car made any mark or has had a positive outlook, they still want to try their luck with Petrol version and suffer further more.

Ummm, need I remind you that there are quite a number of people who buy petrol-engine powered hatchbacks today, despite the rising fuel-costs? Also, if you read the review carefully and go through the 'Other Points' post in particular, you'll find a link that takes you to a thread where you'll find a detailed report on the Chevrolet factory.

The petrol and diesel cars are built on the same line and this has reduced investment costs a fair deal. Also, this allows the company to increase / decrease assembly and manufacture of either petrol or diesel cars according to current demand while ensuring that the line does not remain stagnant thereby allowing for flexibility.

Pricing, well, I personally think it isn't bad at all. Sure, it could have been 10k cheaper. But we Indians seem to want everything in one package and it has to be cheap. I don't get this. We want a supple ride, sharp handling, reassuring composure, well appointed, extremely spacious and quality interiors, a turbo diesel engine with NO lag, fuel-economy that's previously unheard of, etc ALL of this for 7 lakhs OTR. Heck, even then people will complain saying that it has no features and it looks ordinary yada yada yada.

I'll tell you something. When I first saw this car in a magazine, I wrote it off completely. It did not look exciting. And the fact that it's associated to China in some way made me queasy inside.

But now, after having driven it, I find it to be a very well rounded car. It does pretty much everything you ask from it. Heck, it does everything the Swift does, even better in fact! There is more space, the drivability is better, the ride is so much better and it is considerably cheaper than the Swift. I'd say the Sail makes the Swift look exorbitantly priced for what it offers. Remember one thing, this car may be a budget offing, but it's powered by the same MJD engine. And dimensionally, it's right there in premium-hatch territory. If you can live with the average interior quality (frankly, the Swift / Figo aren't any better and the Liva is even worse) and the bland / ordinary looks, it's definitely worth it.

This car may not be exactly VFM when you compare it head-to-head with a Figo (especially when you take into account the equipment that the Ford has to offer) but it's certainly VFM when you compare it to anything else in the hatchback segment today. Be it the Liva, the Swift, the Polo, etc.

The golden question remains though. "Will people walk away from Maruti and Toyota showrooms to sample a competent Chevy product?"

[tj123]

In my opinion the pricing seems to be a little steep for a GM car in India, in percentage terms it is about 10% more expensive than the Figo, on the road difference will be still higher. GM should have launched it at a lower price point and tested the market with introductory pricing. Let see how the janta reacts.

Sincerely I wanted the Sonic to be launched instead the Sail, it would have competed well in the B+ premium segment, I think the pricing was the issue.

[Nilesh5417]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

The golden question remains though. "Will people walk away from Maruti and Toyota showrooms to sample a competent Chevy product?"

That exactly is what i guess everyone is trying to say. Although in not as few words you did. A competent product killed by strategy (or lack of it).

I would in fact go ahead and rephrase the question you ask as - "Has Chevy done enough to make people walk into their showrooms to sample what is clearly a competent product?"

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

That exactly is what i guess everyone is trying to say. Although in not as few words you did. A competent product killed by strategy (or lack of it).

I would in fact go ahead and rephrase the question you ask as - "Has Chevy done enough to make people walk into their showrooms to sample what is clearly a competent product?"

I think the strategy is fine. They have dissected the hatchback market quite well and have priced it just right. I believe that the 60k over the Figo is justified because it's more spacious, rides better and is more efficient than the Ford.

It is 20k-30k more than the Liva GD and it justifies that as well because it comes with features like alloy-wheels, electronically adjustable mirrors, a head unit(!), etc. None of these things are offered on the top-end Liva. Besides, it cabin-space is nearly equal and it scores very well in terms of NVH. Much better than the Liva!

If the price climbs any higher, sales are going to suffer most certainly.

The problem is the Chevy brand name and to add to it, the 'U-VA tag' that's synonymous with a defunct flop show that the Aveo was reduced to.

People will continue to flock Maruti showrooms because well, ahem, the Swift is a Maruti product. And that pretty much seals it for 50% of the car-buyers out there.

[acroback]

This looks to me like a car designed for India.
I did not find any shortcoming, which I cannot live without?
Push pull locks can be tolerated and so can the door levers. Lack of ACC might be an issue for some, but without it people still drive cars and will.

I went through the Sail brochure and they have paid attention to providing even hooks on headrest so that you can hang your small shopping bags there. I did find a section in Only Car Manual where it says how to fix child seats on the rear seat, though I doubt those points shall be available in India.

To me it looks priced just fine, give or take 10-15K.

But have they done enough?

[rajeshsundaram]

I do not find any problem with the pricing except it looks a bit optimistic, when taking into account the brand value chevy has in the 4-7 lakhs market. I think very soon, dealers will start offering discounts making it VFM. This could put Sail on track bringing in volumes.

Chevy has to consider Diesel Beat's price too. According to their website the price of beat diesel starts from 4.6 lacs and ends at 5.8 lacs (ex SR, delhi). And Sail Diesel starts exactly at 5.8 lacs and ends at 6.6 lacs (ex SR, Delhi). This means GM has done their best effort to protect Diesel Beat, as well give a competition to Swift and Etios.

The only trump card is the magic engine - Multijet Diesel. The mini-multijet in Beat is bringing in some cash already. So I definitely hope SAIL Diesel will bring some more cash, which Aveo UVA failed to bring in. If SAILS clicks, it may put up some competition to Swift, Etios and Vista. Lets see how the market responds.

[puchoo]

Neither did i , its one of those situations that one simply has a neutral perception of the car at this point , one is neither excited nor disappointed - but i have not seen or interacted with the car yet face to face , this is owing only to whatever one has read.

Lack of ACC i dont think is going to be a deal breaker here and for me personally neither is the exterior styling.

Originally Posted by acroback

I did not find any shortcoming, which I cannot live without?
Push pull locks can be tolerated and so can the door levers. Lack of ACC might be an issue for some, but without it people still drive cars and will.

[prakasse]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

This car may not be exactly VFM when you compare it head-to-head with a Figo (especially when you take into account the equipment that the Ford has to offer) but it's certainly VFM when you compare it to anything else in the hatchback segment today. Be it the Liva, the Swift, the Polo, etc.

+1 to that. Sail is VFM when compared to Liva, swift, polo, but certainly not when compared with Figo.
Do they feel they can take the customers away from swift that sells solid 15k per month with this pricing. Can they sell 5k units per month with this pricing? It would be tough task with Chevy's resale value and brand image in India. If they would have priced it on par with Figo, it would have certainly helped them as they have more chances of wooing the liva/figo/swift buyers.Also let me know your opinion on providing only one air bag in all except the higher variant.
I liked the car but am not happy with the pricing.

[Blow Horn Ok]

I expected that the pricing would be head-on with the figo. But it isn't. The car has neither distinctive looks and that 'wow' factor nor the pricing is mouth watering. If I had to look for a new car again I would still go with the figo and enjoy the money saved and fun while driving. If I had extra budget for a hatch, I would go for the Punto.

[tictactoe]

Low end pastics, high performance and great on economy - This car has all the makings of a taxi car. I had the same view when I saw the Logan. Not sure what segment GM is looking at taking on. Definitely this car wont give Swift a run for its money. Possibly Indica?