GM India to restart Sail Diesel & Tavera production in August

For the last couple of months, diesel variants of the Sail hatchback and sedan, and the BS-III Tavera MUV, have been withdrawn from showroom shelves. Production of these vehicles has also been suspended by General Motors. The reason given by the American car maker for the temporary production stoppage was that there were quality issues in the diesel engines of the Sail twins while the Tavera BS-III MUV failed to meet emission norms. 

These lapses were noted during a routine check at General Motors's production facilities by Automobile Research Association of India (ARAI), a governmental certification agency. According to the EconomicTimes, production of the Sail Diesel twins and the Tavera MUV will be restarted in August 2013, ahead of the Indian festive season of Dusshera and Diwali, a period when car sales typically tend to be at their highest in India. 

As the recently launched diesel versions of the Sail hatchback and sedan were aimed at pulling major volumes for General Motors, the production stoppage has come at an inopportune time for the car maker. Also, the BS-III variant of the Chevrolet Tavera was the faster selling model in the MUV line up as most cab operators prefer the lower priced BS-III variant to the BS-IV model.

From August, dealers are expected to take bookings for the Sail Diesel twins and the Tavera BS-III MUV. Although General Motors stopped production of the aforementioned cars, the car maker has not issued an official recall for the cars it has already sold in India. Also, the car maker has not made public the specific details on why the cars's production was stopped in the first place.