GM India likely to restart diesel Sail UVA, saloon and Tavera production in early July

June 26, 2013: A surprise check by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) on June 6 found General Motors India (GMI) caught in the vortex of manufacturing woes with the models involved being its BS-III Chevrolet Tavera MUV, Sail UVA hatchback and Sail saloon. These models experienced problems on the ‘Conformity of Production or confirmation of performance’ (COP) certification from ARAI when it inspected a few vehicles coming off the assembly lines and found the Tavera not meeting BS-III emission norms. Similarly, the Sail engine was not able to achieve COP certification, experiencing quality issues in its engine.

Each year, ARAI undertakes surprise inspections at the manufacturer’s end and after this visit, GMI stopped production of the BS-III Tavera diesel but the diesel BS-IV Multijet-engined Tavera with piezo fuel injectors continues to roll off the assembly line.

International Tractors Ltd is a supplier of the BS-IV 2-litre Tavera common-rail diesel engine while the BS-III 2.5-litre direct-injection Tavera engine is manufactured by Avtec. Meanwhile, GMI has ramped up the production capacity of its BS-IV Tavera and also asked ITL to ramp up capacity to 500 units per month of the BS-IV engine from this month from the existing 200 units.

The Tavera sells around 1,500-2,000 units every month, of which 70-80 percent are BS-III. Officials in ITL told Autocar Professional that the company’s plant at Hoshiarpur has just added new machinery to meet GMI’s requirements and from July there will be a 10-20 percent capacity ramp every month to match the increasing numbers of the BS-IV Tavera at GM’s end. ITL produces the 2-litre and above engines at Hoshiarpur.

According to a source, the issue is emissions not on account of the BS-III engine supplied by Avtec but some other part that could be the catalytic converter or some other part. Meanwhile, GMI has on its own launched an investigation to track the fault and, according to sources, is expected to restart production of the stopped models from July 1. The Sail-UVA and premium saloon, on the other hand, are believed to be experiencing quality issues in their engines.

“We are working hard to resolve these issues as quickly as possible and will come back to you in the coming days with more details as we move towards a solution for both vehicles. As part of General Motors’ stringent manufacturing and quality control processes, we have identified a potential emissions performance issue with the Chevrolet Tavera BS-III and a quality issue with the Chevrolet Sail HB and NB Diesel variants. Neither issue is safety-related. Since GM is committed to product excellence, we have temporarily suspended production of these vehicles. The Tavera BS-IV and Sail HB and NB Petrol models are unaffected and production of these vehicles is continuing,” clarifies P Balendran, vice-president, GM India.

The Sail saloon, which was launched earlier this year, is powered by a 78bhp 1.3 SDE Smartech common-rail diesel engine. The engine was developed by the GM Diesel Engine Technical Centre in Turin, Italy, with the support of engineers in Pune and Bangalore. These Smartech engines are manufactured at GMI's Talegaon plant in Maharashtra. On a likely recall being on the cards, Balendran says: “We will come back to you with an update after a thorough investigation in the coming days.” Industry sources in the know say that the Sail and Sail UVA are facing an ignition problem, which is impacting the engine while being kicked into life.

Fiat also supplies its 1.3 Multijet engines to Maruti Suzuki for the Swift, Dzire and SX4 models. However, a Fiat India spokesperson denied that the same problem may be encountered by Maruti Suzuki. He added that engines used by the Japanese carmaker are different and hence will not be impacted.

General Motors India sold 8,500 vehicles during May 2013, registering a growth of 40 percent compared to 6,079 units sold in May 2012. These included 2,851 units of the Chevrolet Sail, 2,177 units of the Enjoy MPV, 1,506 units of the Beat and 1,475 units of the Tavera.

SHOBHA MATHUR