Chevrolet Sail: Created In China
Up to now, the M.O. of foreign joint ventures operating in China was that precious intellectual property was brought to China, where the working masses would turn it into cars. Now, the Chevrolet Sail marks a, well, change of tide.
Old China hands remember the Buick Sail. For quite a while, the Opel Corsa supermini had popped up all over the world under various guises: Vauxhall Nova, Chevrolet Classic, Holden Barina, Opel Vita, as the Chevy in Mexico, as Swing, Joy, and in China as the Buick Sail. In China, the Sail came down in 2005.
Now, a new Sail is sold in China. Not just made, but developed in China.
Shanghai GM yesterday introduced the Chevrolet New Sail sedan, touted as “the first passenger car created in China by a Sino-foreign joint venture,” as Shanghai GM’s presser has it.
The small car was developed by Shanghai GM and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC), both GM-SAIC joint ventures. “In addition to being sold in China, the New Sail will also be exported to other emerging markets,” says the press release.
Last November, Ding Lei, General manager of Shanghai GM, insisted that “the new Sail was developed entirely by Shanghai GM,” and that the beauty of this is that there is “no transfer fee.” So no payment from Shanghai to Rüsselsheim, or Delaware. Who knows, if the Sail catches wind in other markets, then maybe, transfer fees could flow to Shanghai.
The base model should cost around $8,800, intruding into an area previously reserved to homegrown Chinese brands, says Gasgoo.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Looks more to me like a facelifted Aveo. Platform of such car?... Corsa 2?, Gamma? (if I'm correct if the current Corsa platform), Corsa 3?, current Aveo?... Bertel, before becoming the Chevrolet Classic (Brazil) it was the Chevrolet Corsa in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and other markets. Corsa 2. Most Latam markets got the Corsa 3 which we at Vzla didn't. But the Corsa 2 was and continue to be sold alongside in some markets, be it the Classic, C2 (Chevy) or some of the other models built on that platform from Brazil: Suzuki Fun and don't remember the name of the 2 Chevrolets they made on it (could be more). If volume and time on sale is a measure, the Corsa 2 can be considered as a very successful car for GM.
Press release (wanted to see interior pics, no luck)... http://publish.media.gm.com/content/media/cn/en/news/news_detail.brand_gm.html/content/Pages/news/cn/en/2010/January/11 And some key comment Will be sold in China and exported to other emerging markets
This thing has as much front overhang as the new CR-Z.
Should be easy to name trim levels.. Main Sail, Jib Sail and the uhhhhh... Poop Sail???