General Motors India recalls Chevrolet Sail diesel twins

General Motors has recalled 4,000 units of the Chevrolet Sail diesel, sold in hatchback and sedan guises. Production of the Sail diesel twins was stopped on the 3rd of June, 2013, with General Motors India  citing "quality issues" in the cars' 1.3 liter turbo diesel engines, as the reason for the production halt. 

Now though, the quality issues seem to have been ironed out as General Motors India has restarted production of the Sail diesel twins. 4,000 owners of the Chevrolet Sail diesel hatchback and sedan will be notified of the recall by General Motors and their cars will be fixed free of cost. 

The Chevrolet Sail twins are available with 2 engine options: a 1.2 liter petrol engine and a 1.3 liter turbo diesel engine. Production of the petrol engined model of the Chevrolet Sail twins continued even as that of the diesel engined models was halted about three months ago.

General Motors India is yet to announce the exact nature of the quality issues that have plagued the 1.3 liter turbo diesel engines used on Sail twins. Notably, the same engine is also used on the Chevrolet Enjoy MPV. 

Update: We learn that the 1.3 liter turbo diesel engine's crankshaft hub bolt that could see slippage/breakage is the reason for the recall. 

However, production of the diesel powered Enjoy MPV has continued uninterrupted. The turbo diesel engine that the Sail diesel twins and the Enjoy use, is a 1,248 cc-4 cylinder unit that was developed by Fiat. 

This engine has been licensed to be used by General Motors, as a part of the settlement of the failed Fiat-GM merger. This turbo diesel engine is hugely popular and powers a range of cars in India, from Maruti Suzukis and Tatas to Fiats and Chevrolets. 

General Motors India has been in the eye of a storm lately, following the fudging of emission details of the Tavera MPV. The Indian government has initiated a probe into the matter. The Sail U-VA hatchback was launched late last year, as a replacement to the Aveo U-VA while the Sail sedan was launched early this year, as  the replacement to the Aveo sedan.

Both cars are aimed at delivering good sales volumes for GM India. The Sail twins were developed by SAIC, General Motors' Chinese partner. The cars are hot sellers in the Chinese car market. In India though, both the Sail hatchback and sedan have been average sellers at best, with the 3 month production halt not helping matters either.