General Motors India Launches Chevrolet Sail U-VA Premium Hatchback

 by Shrutee Kate

General Motors India Launches Chevrolet Sail U-VA Premium Hatchback

General Motors India launched the all-new Chevrolet Sail U-VA today. The  premium hatchback takes styling, performance and safety to a new level.

The SailU-VA hatchback is built on a new global small passenger car platform created especially for fast-growing emerging markets, including India. Engineers at the GM Technical Center-India in Bangalore spent nearly two years adapting the platform for India to ensure that it would meet the requirements of the Indian market and Indian car buyers.

“The much-anticipated Chevrolet Sail U-VA hatchback is an important addition to GM’s small car portfolio in India,” said Anil Mehrotra, VicePresident and Chief Financial Officer, GM India.“It brings a new sense of vitality to the largest, fastest-growing and most competitive segment in the domestic passenger car market.”

The SailU-VA hatchback’s exterior exudes Chevrolet’s sporty styling. The front view features Chevrolet’s signature design cues, including adual-port grille adorned with a gold bowtie that gives it a bold look. The hood features muscular cutline’s that provide a three-dimensional appearance. Hawk Wing style headlamps and Shooting Star style front fog lamps further enhance the vehicle’s elegance.

From the side, its unique waistline gives the Sail U-VA hatchback a dynamic stance. Its body proportions offer a perfect ratio of a long front and short rear, with a lower stance in front that moves upward to a higher stance in back. The streamlined shape of the vehicle adds a dynamic styling element while reducing drag, for lower fuel consumption. The panoramic view, big side windows and wide-opening rear door give it the feel of much larger car.

Seven exterior colours are available: Super Red, Switchblade Silver, Summit White, Caviar Black, LinenBeige, Sandrift Grey and Misty Lake.

The interior of the Sail U-VA hatchback is spacious and airy, with a Chevrolet Corvette-inspired dual-cockpit design. The Horizon View dashboard design provides an uninterrupted panoramic view. The Rising Sun style instrument cluster with a three-spoke V-style steering wheel adds to the interior’s sporty feel.

The “smart and spacious” design philosophy was adopted to ensure the ample space of a family car, allowing the Sail U-VA hatchback room for up to five people in comfort. Short front and rear overhangs along with a fuel tanksituated in the middle of the car maximize interior space and provide among the best legroom in the segment. The Sail U-VA hatchback’s high roof design offers ample headroom even for taller passengers. Smart and well-thought-out storage spaces provide room for passengers to stow their belongings.

The smartly designed Flex Flat folding rear seat increases the space in back to1,134 liters. The hatchback door is low in height but broad in size, making it convenient to load and unload cargo.

The Fun-Wide entertainment system has Bluetooth functionality. It supports fivephone pairings and audio streaming.

At the heart of the Sail U-VA hatchback is GM India’s latest family of petrol and diesel Smartech engines, which present an excellent combination of high power, high fuel efficiency and low emissions.

The 1.3-litreSDE Smartech common rail diesel engine is a revolution in small diesel enginetechnology. It was developed by the GM Diesel Engine Technical Center in Turin,Italy, with the support of engineers in Pune and Bangalore to achieve a balance between cost, performance and fuel efficiency specifically for car buyers in the Indian market.

The state-of-the-art four-cylinder engine delivers power of 78 PS @ 4,000 rpm and torque of 205 Nm @ 1,750+/-50 rpm along with fuel economy of 22.1 km/l.

Among its cutting-edge technical features are a lightweight aluminumalloy DOHC cylinder head, lightweight pistons with graphite-coated skirts that have anti-friction properties, and low-tension piston rings that decrease weight and increase fuel economy. A short-skirt compact cast iron cylinder block with an alumi numbed plate enhances stiffness.

Torsional vibration dampers are provided for improved noise, vibration and harshness performance. In addition, the engine has a low-inertiaval vetrain with hydraulic lash adjusters and a lifetime maintenance-free timing chain.

The engine’s advanced common rail fuel injection system, close-coupleddiesel oxidation catalyst, and electrically operated, water-cooled external EGR with pneumatically controlled EGR bypass effectively limit emissions. A fixed-geometry turbocharger with a vacuum-operated wastegate for smooth and efficient operation delivers superior torque from very lowengine rpms. An electronic accelerator control further enhances the engine’s smooth operation.

 

The SailU-VA hatchback’s 1.2-litre Smartech petrol engine was created by the GM Technical Center-India in cooperation with GM India’s Talegaon engine plant in Pune. The engine features aluminum cylinder heads, a deep skirt cylinder block and lightweight pistons with low-tension rings, which decrease weight and maximize fuel economy.

The engine also features a DOHC valvetrain with direct-acting Valve actuation to further improve efficiency, as well as a long-runner plastic intake manifold for good low-end torque and a lightweight counterbalanced crankshaft that limits noise, vibration and harshness. The engine’s maintenance-free inverted tooth timing chain drive system has chain links that engage at a lower impact speed for quiet operation.

The engine delivers uncompromised power and durability in a small package. The application of an epoxy coating on the cylinder block and anti-corrosion coating on cam cover baffles along with the use of stainless steel core plugs and bay-to-bay ventilation ensure a long life.

Extensive testing and Validation of the engines were carried out in India to guarantee top-of-the-line performance. Both engines are being built at GM’s world-class flexible engine plant in Pune.

The driving character designed into the Sail U-VA hatchback’s steering, suspension and braking systems is that of a finely tuned Indian vehicle. It delivers taut, tight handling that enhances connectivity with the driver for confident control with no sacrifice in ride.

Gas-filled front and rear shock absorbers optimize damping to isolate road undulations on rough to coarse terrain. Significant attention was given to short as well as long commutes by reducing fatigue-prone road vibration. Macpherson struts in front and a semi-independent suspension in back along with a rigid chassis work together to maximize ride quality. Large tires enable the Sail U-VA hatchback to negotiate speed bumps and potholes with ease.

In line with Chevrolet’s global focus on safety, the Sail U-VA hatchback features safety cage body construction supported by the extensive use of high-strength steel. The three-point structure is capable of dispersing 80 percent of the force in a front impact. It also prevents intrusion into the cabin. The fuel tank is protected by steel beam-rolling ribs. Front and rear bumper skins are designed to absorb light-impact energy at low speeds of up to 4 km/h, helping minimize bodywork damage.

An engine immobilizer, central door locking, speed-sensitive automatic door locks and remote keyless entry further enhance active safety. In addition, three of the four Variants come with air bags, while anti-lock brakes with electronic brake force distribution are available in the top two Variants.

The SailU-VA hatchback has been put through more than 6.3 million km of testing on different terrains and in extreme climate conditions across India and in other countries. To further meet the highest quality expectations of customers, 1,567parts and components underwent the same stringent global testing that GMapplies to its luxury cars. GM’s global quality management processes and standards were also applied in R&D, procurement, quality recognition and manufacturing.

The Sail U-VA comes with athree-year/100,000-km standard warranty. In addition, customers can opt for aunique add-on service maintenance package, the Chevrolet Promise, which provides free maintenance for three years or 45,000 km (whichever comes first).

Chevrolet was founded in Detroit in1911. Chevrolet products are sold in more than 140 countries. The Chevrolet brand was introduced in India in 2003 and is one of the fastest-growing automotive nameplates in the country. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio in India includes the Chevrolet Captiva, Chevrolet Optra, Chevrolet Cruze, Chevrolet Aveo, ChevroletAveo U-VA, Chevrolet Spark, Chevrolet Beat and Chevrolet Tavera.