General Motors has been concentrating heavily on the Chevrolet brand in India after bidding farewell to Opel in our country. The German brand was discontinued in 2006 due to poor sales as GM had not concentrated on localisation of its parts. Though GM had a long list of vehicles in its portfolio, the car-maker had its maximum chunk of sales with the Tavera initially. The company stopped production of this MPV in June 2013 after facing allegations related to emission specific standards as GM did not update the engine since its launch in 2005.
In July 2013, GM recalled 1,14,000 units of the Tavera in order to resolve issues with the emission standards and other regulatory specifications. At the same time, the company also recalled the diesel variants of the Sail twins which use the well acclaimed Fiat sourced diesel mill. The recall has been done after receiving reports from various organisations that GM is not taking care about emission norms and also after receiving notices from the government.
According to the company officials, GM has restarted the production of the Tavera in India after receiving regulatory approvals related to the emission standards as the engines have been upgraded to achieve BS4 standards. GM India has already received approvals related to the BS3 model and production has also started. BS4 approval is under process and approval is expected anytime now and production will start soon. The impact of this massive recall is yet to be seen as penalties haven’t been announced yet.
