General Motors India has announced a price cut for the Chevrolet Sail U-VA hatchback to the tune of Rs. 25,000/-. The starting price for the hatchback being produced in 2013 has now been revised to Rs. 4.19 lakhs (ex-showroom. Thane) for the base 1.2-litre petrol model. A new base diesel variant has been launched, priced at Rs. 5.29 lakhs (ex-showroom). The Chevrolet Sail U-VA hatchback was launched in November 2012 with a starting price of Rs. 4.44 lakhs (ex-showroom, Thane). Along with the price cut, GM is also offering an additional discount of Rs. 3000/- on the Sail U-VA for all corporates this year.
The American car manufacturer is currently offering 2012 models of the Sail U-VA hatchback with an additional discount of Rs. 25,000/- on both petrol and diesel variants. Chevrolet is offering such discounts in order to boost up the declining sales of the hatchback since its launch in November 2012. The automaker managed to sell only about 560 units of the hatchback in the month of February. We can expect marginally improvement in sales from this move.
The Chevrolet Sail U-VA is well known for its comfortable ride quality and cabin space. It comes with two engine options including a 1.2-litre petrol motor churning out 85 BHP of peak power with 113 Nm of peak torque and a 1.3-litre diesel motor producing a maximum power output of 76 BHP with 205 Nm of peak torque. Both the engines are mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. The Sail U-VA is positioned to compete with the likes of Maruti Suzuki Swift, Toyota Etios Liva, Ford Figo and Hyundai i20.
The reduction in price within just a few months of launch clearly show the market hasn’t received the product well. GM should have priced the Sail U-VA right the first time itself but the company chose to try their luck with the pricing. Once a product’s price is dropped, people start to loose faith in it, hoping for more discounts in the future. Should GM have launched the Sonic twins instead?
Source – Autocar India
