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OK, this is the replacement for the Aveo. From photos on chevy's website, it looks much better than the Aveo. Can someone please explain why Chevy would take it's compact car's engines (Cruze) and put them in their subcompact car(Spark)? Also, why give their subcompact the same mpg as their compact?
OK, this is the replacement for the Aveo. From photos on chevy's website, it looks much better than the Aveo. Can someone please explain why Chevy would take it's compact car's engines (Cruze) and put them in their subcompact car(Spark)? Also, why give their subcompact the same mpg as their compact?
They don't get the same MPG rating. The Cruze gets 24/36 in regular trim. The ECO option package stretches it to 28/42, but that decontents the car a bit. The Sonic is expected to get 28/40 across all trims.
Additionally, the Cruze starts at $16k and easily goes north of $20k when optioned up. The Sonic will certainly undercut that price, by a good margin. I would imagine that the Sonic will probably straddle the $12k-$18k range across all its trims. Meaning, you can get a high content Sonic with better MPG than a base model Cruze for around the same money.
GM seems to have an interesting strategy with its current compact cars, one that I think will pay off for them. They aren't looking to compete on price. They are looking to compete on features and content and offer a little bit bigger of a car for the money than the competition. GM seems to be embracing the idea of a "premium" compact more than any other manufacturer.
The idea of a Chevy being a "premium compact" will alienate a good portion of the customer base. People don't buy American cars because they're a premium product; they buy them because they're cheap or the financing is cheap. The Cruze's price range is a bit high, if you ask me, for it being a Chevrolet. I know I don't want anything to do with a $20K compact Chevrolet. If they want to do the premium compact thing, the Buick Verano looks like it may be a true contender. I'd far rather have a $22K compact Buick than a $20K compact Chevrolet. Heck, for similar money as a Cruze, you can almost (might actually be able to do it, even) get a Silverado W/T or an Impala. Around here, the Malibu LS and loss leader Impala aren't advertised for much more.
As for the fuel mileage, if the EPAs are close, there is a possibility that the Sonic is less aerodynamic than the Cruze, which may hurt highway mileage the same way that the Civic does the same or better on the highway than the Fit.
OK, this is the replacement for the Aveo. From photos on chevy's website, it looks much better than the Aveo. Can someone please explain why Chevy would take it's compact car's engines (Cruze) and put them in their subcompact car(Spark)? Also, why give their subcompact the same mpg as their compact?
Nice rip off of the Nissan Juke's rear door handle concept. (Psuedo two-door) LOL.
I'm not impressed. Why don't they just sell the Spark or Matiz here? They're much nicer looking. Maybe they get TOO GOOD gas mileage. LOL
Give it a year. GM plans to start selling the Spark here in 2012.
The Spark is going to be a fleet only product and not available for retail sale. The HHR is dead in 2012 and fleet customers complained that the Equinox was to upscale/expensive to be a replacement. So, they are bringing over the Spark to replace the HHR in the fleet portfolio.
The Spark is going to be a fleet only product and not available for retail sale. The HHR is dead in 2012 and fleet customers complained that the Equinox was to upscale/expensive to be a replacement. So, they are bringing over the Spark to replace the HHR in the fleet portfolio.
1) When did GM indicate it would only be for fleet sales?
2) In what bizarro world is the Spark considered a replacement for the HHR?? Why import a car just for fleet sales to replace a car that's much larger instead of filling that niche with the Sonic which in hatchback form is 2 and a half feet longer than the Spark and only 3 inches shorter than the HHR?
Couldn't GM merely give the HHR a more conservative utility styling, slap a GMC label on the grill, make it a panel wagon only, and sell it for fleet sales only?
The Orlando would have made a great HHR replacement. The Sonic simply cannot be fleet only. That would put the cheapest GM passenger car for retail sale at $17-18K for a Cruze, which is unacceptable for GM considering nearly everyone else has something for less than that. I know the Aveo isn't a hugely popular car, but there's enough of them being sold that GM would be losing out on sales.
(pause)
I just looked at chevrolet.com's Sonic page. The Sonic will have an optional turbocharger and the one in the interior picture has leather (and a LTZ model designation), and if it were fleet only, I don't know why they would bother with two body styles and LTZ trim. The fleet-only Impala model has no trim level name. (It can be spotted by looking at the trunklid; there is no LS, LT, or LTZ badge.)
Last edited by us66; 05-26-2011 at 04:17 PM..
Reason: Impala
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