Updated on 8th October 2013
GM India has restarted the production of the BS-III variants of the Chevrolet Tavera after getting all the requisite approvals from the government. GM India had to earlier issue a recall after it was found that Chevrolet India employees had circumvented Indian emission test rules and the units running on Indian were in effect illegal. The BS-IV variants of the Tavera are being tested, and should receive certification soon, Mr. P. Balendran, Vice President, GM India told Reuters. No news on how much the whole exercise has cost the company has been released till now.
Updated on 8th August 2013
The Ministry of Road Transport and highways has asked the state governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra to determine the penalty that GM India would have to pay for the emission norms violations. GM has two factories, one in Talegaon, Maharashtra and the other in Halol, Gujarat and that is why the respective state governments will decide on the penalty in accordance to the Motor Vehicle Act.
GM has suspended around 30-35 more of employees in India, including employees from its two plants and at its corporate office in Gurgaon, Haryana. These employees worked in the quality, engineering and operations department.
GM India is expected to suffer heavy losses because of the recall and the penalty it faces from the government, estimates peg it about Rs. 500 crore. We’re hoping they will bounce back from this setback.
Source: FE, BS, ET
Updated on 29th July 2013
Details have emerged which demystify how so many units of the Tavera had emissions issues. According to reports, GM India employees put lower emission engines and manipulated the weight of the SUV during inspections to make it pass regulations, the final product sold in the market was different though. This practice had been going on for the past eight years, till an internal investigation by GM revealed the wrong doing.
Though ten employees of the company from GM India and USA, including Sam Winegaren, Head, Global Engine Development have been suspended, the implications of this news might be very hard for GM in India. The Indian government has started an inquiry into the matter to find whether the situation arose due to systemic errors, willful negligence or other wrongdoing by the employees of the company. The investigation report is expected to be completed in August 2013, and if GM is found to have partaken in wrong practices it could face heavy financial penalties. The company could also face criminal cases if it was discovered that there were serious offences committed (for example bribery of officials).
source : ET
Updated on 24th July 2013
In what is being touted as the biggest recall, in terms of number of cars recalled, GM has recalled about 1.14 lakh units of the Chevrolet Tavera. The units have been manufactured between 2005 and 2013, Chevrolet has not specified the problem stating that these units have ’emissions and specification issues’.
This is the statement they released: “General Motors India (GMI)… is voluntarily recalling the Chevrolet Tavera BS3 (2.5L variant) and BS4 (2.0L variant) from model years 2005-2013 to address emissions and specification issues,” the company added.
From what we can gather, the engines in the MPV may not adhere to the emission regulations, be it BS-III or BS-IV, and may be polluting more than they are supposed to. It does not seem like there is any danger to those who use the vehicles though. GM has stated that the units will be serviced and the problem rectified at Chevrolet dealerships across the country free of cost.
Chevrolet has been plagued by problems, especially with the diesel engines of its cars, which forced it to stop the production of the diesel variants of the Tavera, the Sail sedan and the Sail hatchback last month. There is a possibility that Chevrolet might recall the diesel variants of the Sail twins soon.
