Chevrolet Sail 3

From the mid-1990s to the late 2000s, General Motors’ most “famous” vehicle was Corsa. The compact hatchback was sold in dozens of countries and spawned multiple body variations, just like Cruze in nowadays, but under even more brands. One of these was Sail, which was sold in China initially under Buick. However, just like in many of those markets, the original Opel project was replaced with regional ones, so as to better suit the particular needs of each group of customers. After Latin America having created Onix, now it’s time to meet Corsa’s latest Chinese spiritual successor.

This is Sail’s second generation as an independent vehicle. The transition from what wasn’t far from being a badge-engineered Opel Corsa B had to occur because of the moment GM was living at that time: after the ‘2008 crisis, the company was forced to perform drastic changes on its operations all around the world, and one of the results was starting to give more importance to emergent countries. One of these was South Korea, whose division still worked as Daewoo then, and would become the responsible for models such as Spark, Aveo/Sonic and Cruze. A few more years later, Chevrolet has decided to clean up its act: not only would it stop taking vehicles from other GM brands as it would also unify its own design tendencies around the planet.

After the China-only new Cruze, which was released a few months ago, the next Chevrolet to follow this new path turned out to be Sail. The project is entirely new and features smoother lines, which intend to present the company’s current design identity without too much American or too much Asian influence. The front grille, for instance, uses its upper portion to connect the headlights and the other posing as if it was the only one – this idea was first used at the current Malibu. The side silhouette reminds of the aforementioned Cruze, while the dimensions are very similar to those of the Brazilian Prisma. Nevertheless, it won’t be difficult to know this is a low-cost sedan: you find poor inspiration at details, such as the lights’ internal design.

Using GM’s latest compact-car platform made the new Sail longer and wider than its predecessor, which increased the internal space as a whole. However, what people will notice even easier is the cabin’s stylish design. There are two-tone coating, MyLink’s touchscreen at the central console, and the right amount of chrome inserts, everything put together by Chevrolet’s “dual cockpit” tendency. The available engines will be a 100-hp 1.3-liter and a 110-hp 1.5-liter. Both burn gasoline, are claimed to be more efficient than their predecessors, and use start/stop system and manual transmission – the latter can be upgraded with an automatic unit. After its official debut during the last Guangzhou Auto Show, the new Sail will cost from 59,900 to 73,900 yuan.