By Santanu Choudhury
NEW DELHI--General Motors Co. (GM) Friday introduced a new
hatchback model in India to step up its fight against rivals such
as market leader Suzuki Motor Corp. (7269.TO), Hyundai Motor Co.
(005380.SE) and Ford Motor Co. (F).
General Motors India Pvt. Ltd. will offer the Sail U-VA model
with the option of a 1.3-liter diesel engine or a 1.2-liter
gasoline engine. Both the engines will be made at the company's
plant at Pune, in western India.
The gasoline models will cost between 444,000 rupees ($8,268)
and 557,918 rupees in New Delhi, and the diesel version will sell
for 587,289 rupees to 662,000 rupees.
The new car has hawk wing headlamps and shooting star style fog
lamps, the company said. It will have wider tires and gas-filled
front and rear shock absorbers.
The car will also have features such as an engine immobilizer,
central door locking and speed-sensitive automatic door locks.
Three of the four versions will come with air bags, while anti-lock
brakes with electronic brakeforce distribution will be offered in
the top two versions.
The Sail U-VA hatchback's debut -- which follows the Oct. 25
launch of an upgraded version of Chevrolet's Spark small car -- is
an indication of the U.S. auto maker's focus on turning around its
vehicle sales in India.
Introducing new cars is crucial for GM to draw new customers in
India, where car sales have been subdued this year, due partly to
high loan rates, rising fuel prices and a slowing economy.
In the April-September period, GM's India sales declined 23% to
33,613 cars.
GM India also sells the Captiva and Tavera sport-utility
vehicles, whose sales fell 16% in April-September to 9,813 autos.
The company also produces other cars under the Chevrolet brand,
such as the Beat, Cruze and Optra.
Lowell Paddock, president and managing director of GM India,
said the new Sail is "an important addition to GM's small car
portfolio in India" and that it will "bring vitality to the
largest, fastest-growing and most competitive segment in the
domestic passenger car segment."
Small cars comprise about 70% of the two million cars sold
annually in India.
The Sail will likely compete with hatchbacks such as Maruti
Suzuki India Ltd.'s (532500.BY) Swift and Ritz cars, Hyundai's i20,
Ford's Figo, Honda Motor Co.'s (HMC) Brio, Toyota Motor Corp.'s
(TM) Etios, Nissan Motor Co.'s (NSANY) Micra and Volkswagen AG's
(VLKAY) Polo car models.
GM India said the Sail is built "on a new global small passenger
car platform created especially for fast-growing emerging markets,
including India."
It said engineers at the company's technical center in Bangalore
spent nearly two years adapting the platform for the Indian
market.
Write to Santanu Choudhury at santanu.choudhury@dowjones.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires