General Motors to launch small car Sail in Q3

Kolkata, March 26 (IANS) General Motors India (GM) is planning to launch its fourth small car in the country, a premium hatchback "Sail", by July-September, a company official said Monday.

"We would be launching the Sail in Q3, and the small car segment along with the multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) will continue to be our main focus," said S. Sawhney, vice president, sales.

The automaker is also planning to launch a new version of Chevrolet Captiva and a new multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) in 2012.

Asked about the foray into the light commercial vehicle (LCV) space with the launch of the sub-tonne truck this year, Sawhney said: "We never planned to launch the LCV in 2012."

The company August last year had announced the launch of LCV to be rolled out from its Halol plant in Gujarat.

The company is expecting to increase its market share which currently is 6.5 percent.

"The high interest rates and the rise in fuel prices had made the market sluggish but we expect it to improve shortly. We hope to increase our market share significantly," said Managing Director L.C. Paddock.

The company, which will be rolling out both diesel and petrol variants of the three passenger vehicles, will put major emphasis on the diesel variants as the auto industry has witnessed a big surge in the sales of diesel cars.