After seeing millions of spyshots on IAB, I am sure our audience can write a thesis of Chevrolet’s upcoming hatchback Sail in India.
The Chevrolet Sail will be GM India’s replacement for the Aveo U-VA in India. But back in 2010, SAIC - the makers of the Sail - presented an EV version of the Sail at the Guangzhou Auto Show.
Now, Auto.sohu.com has spied the production version of the Chevrolet Sail EV testing in China. Details are hard to come by but we know that the Sail EV will be powered by an electric motor generating 87hp. The Sail EV has a range of 150 km and has a top speed of 130km/h, as revealed by the concept car's specification sheet. The Sail EV will be manufactured by the Shanghai-GM joint venture with a price tag of 1,20,000 yuan (10.52 lakhs INR) according to the Sohu report.
The sightings couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. News came in yesterday that the Indian government has approved a Rs 23,000 crore package to boost production of pure electric and hybrid vehicles in India.
It involves investment of Rs 23,000 crore to Rs 25,000 crore to address key issues like high cost of infrastructure, R&D and commissioning pilot projects, etc. Of this, Rs 13,000 crore to Rs 14,000 crore will be used to develop green technologies in the auto industry.
India will head to a massive electrification phase. The target will be to sell six million electric/hybrid vehicles of all types, including cars, two-wheelers, trucks and three-wheelers by 2020. This is a massive leap from the current less than one per cent of the overall 17 million units auto market in the country.
We have seen so many production ready electric cars from Indian manufacturers in the past - Chevrolet Beat EV, Reva NXR, Eeco EV, Verito EV to name a few. However, none of them are sold in India owing to government’s ignorance towards green technologies.
But after after this proposal, we finally see things heading in the right direction. This also means more employment and more investment because Auto companies will also have to make further investments to prepare their facilities once the technologies and processes are available.
Yes, it’s a beautiful Friday morning and India is shining!
[Source: auto.sohu.com & mydigitalfc.com]
