Just when Mahindra is supposed to give the mighty Xylo a small facelift tomorrow, Chevrolet India has quietly slipped in its challenger – Tavera Neo3 at a tempting price of 6.72 lakhs (ex-showroom Delhi). The Tavera Neo3 was showcased at the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo featuring minor changes to exterior design.
The Tavera’s Achilles heel has now been fixed. It gets a BSIV heart from Sonalika which means that it can be sold metros as well. However, the BSIII version, hailed as an economy champion by taxi cab operators, will also be sold along side. Here are the two engine options that you can book your Tavera Neo with:
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After Pune reader Satyajeet Bhaskare, it was the turn of the test-mule city’s Rohan Patil to snag the Chevrolet Sail inside out. The difference is Rohan’s pictures show the interiors of the hatchback version GM displayed at the Auto Expo last month while Satyajeet shot the sedan.
The dashboards of these cars don’t differ, much like the Etios twins or the Swift twins. The Indigo Manza is perhaps the only vehicle in this segment to bear a different dashboard compared to its centrally-mounted dials its hatchback counterpart is endowed with.
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Our good friend Rituraj Dubey, who caught the BS4 Tavera testing in Gujarat last month felt Deja vu when he spotted different mules of the new Tavera on the same expressway.
Showcased at the Auto Expo, the Tavera Neo3 is expected to launch in the next few weeks. It uses ICML’s “G-One” series engine that displaces two liters and pumps out 100PS of power. GM will continue offering the existing 2.5-liter engine on the Neo3 for customers in BS3 cities.
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GM India presented their replacement for the aging Aveo at the 2012 Auto Expo in New Delhi. No, it’s not the Sonic as one would have imagined. It is actually a Chevrolet Sail from the SAIC portfolio. The Sail was first spied by IAB in a parking lot in Pune. Sure, it’s not as good looking as the Sonic but this is what we are getting and that’s the end of it.
The Chevrolet Sail was jointly developed by Shanghai GM and Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) off a new architecture in accordance with GM’s Global Vehicle Development Process (GVDP) and worldwide standards for engineering and quality. The Chevrolet Beat also complies to the same standards.
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Pune reader Anish Bengiri spotted a taped up Chevrolet Sail hatchback near his residence. The Sail hatch was displayed at the Auto Expo in Delhi a few weeks back and by the festive season (October-November) it will be launched in the market.
See high res interiors shots of the Sail
The Sail twins will replace the age old Aveos and the very important difference is the incoming models use Fiat’s 1.3-liter Multi-jet diesel engine manufactured at GM’s Talegaon plant.
At the 2012 Auto Expo, Chevrolet finally revealed its future lineup for India. The two new products will be launched in 2012. First up is the Sail twins replacing the aging Aveos. Second is an MPV from the SAIC partnership which is yet to be named. This MPV is called Hong Guang in China and has been consistently spotted testing on the Indian roads.
Our good friends at Team-BHP have managed to snap a couple of more images of the Chevrolet MPV near Ahmedabad. The Hong Guang is 7 seater MPV with 2nd and 3rd row have flat-folding seats. It is expected to be powered by 1.3L SMARTECH XSDE engine.
Internationally, the Hong Guang is available with a bucket load of features. So GM can pitch it up against the new Toyota Innova and play the price game.
However, the Hong Guang will not have the market to its own. Nissan India has already showcased its contender – the Evalia for Indian market.
Ashok Leyland also plans to enter this segment with a slightly better looking NV200, called as the Stile. Maruti Suzuki’s Ertiga launch is also just around the corner.
Indian Autos Blog reader Satyajeet Bhaskare sent in high resolution pictures of a lazily camouflaged Chevrolet Sail sedan exposing its interiors for the first time. The Sail sedan is a product of the collaborative efforts of General Motors and its Chinese partner SAIC. The latter owns a fat stake in GM India cited as a key reason for the Sails to precede the Sonic siblings into India. The Sail was developed in China and is one mild facelift old already in its native place!
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