| Chevrolet battles inexpensive South Korean cars with Aveo
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| By Steven Cole Smith, The Orlando Sentinel |
12/20/2003 |
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Tired of watching imports soak up the entry-level car market, Chevrolet is doing something about it. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. The company is battling inexpensive South Korean imports with an inexpensive South Korean import, the 2004 Chevrolet Aveo, which will be available about the end of this year.
Of course, this isn’t unprecedented. Under the Geo banner, Chevrolet sold the Storm, built by Isuzu; the Prizm, built in partnership with Toyota; and the Metro and Tracker, built by Suzuki. And years before that, there was the little Chevy Luv pickup, also built by Isuzu.
In the late 1980s, Pontiac joined the import war with the LeMans, a lumpy little car that was designed mostly by Opel, GM’s European brand, but built in South Korea by Daewoo, half-owned by GM.
But a lot has happened to Daewoo since then. The company started an American sales division, which sold thousands of copies of the subcompact Lanos, compact Nubira and slightly larger Leganza before going belly-up.
GM rescued Daewoo in South Korea but did not acquire the U.S. arm of the company.
The Chevrolet Aveo is built in South Korea by Daewoo, as sort of an updated version of the old Lanos. And GM’s partner, Suzuki, has begun selling the compact Suzuki Verona and larger Suzuki Forenza, which are built by Daewoo and are roughly the updated equivalents of the Daewoo Nubira and Leganza. As before, Daewoo is selling three cars in the United States, but none of them are named Daewoo.
That said, how is the Aveo? (Pronounced, incidentally, ah-VAY-o.)
Pretty good for what it is. Daewoo did, and does, build a nice car.
Chevrolet is advertising the Aveo with a $9,995 starting price, and that’s accurate. It’s in competition with the Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio and to some extent, the Toyota Echo. Just as important, it’s in competition with a 2-year-old Honda Civic. Customers who would rather have a modest new car than a nicer used car make up most of this market.
Styled in Italy, all Aveos have four doors, with your choice of a hatchback or sedan design, and in base or upgraded LS trim. All Aveos have a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine with 103 horsepower, with a standard five-speed manual transmission, or an optional four-speed automatic. With either transmission, Chevy says you should average about 30 mpg.
As you might guess, the $9,995 Aveo — and that includes transportation—is pretty bare bones. No air conditioning, but you get an AM/FM stereo, a tilt steering wheel and power brakes and steering. With air, the price is about $11,700. Get an LS with everything, including a stereo with a CD and MP3 player, plus antilock brakes and the automatic transmission, and you’re still under $15,000. The Aveo is one of the few cars in this bracket that offers a power sunroof.
On the road, the Aveo is a reasonably quick, nimble little car with better road manners than you’d expect. Even on the cheapest models, the interior looks more upscale than it should. With a few options, an Aveo would be a very livable daily driver.
What the Aveo doesn’t have — yet, anyway — is the reputation for reliability and high resale value that the Toyota name brings to the Echo, or the extended warranties that Hyundai and Kia have. The Aveo has the standard three-year, 36,000-mile warranty. Kia and Hyundai have a five-year, 60,000-mile basic warranty. A Chevy representative said the company is thinking about offering a longer warranty but at additional cost.
What the Aveo does have is the backing of 4,600 Chevrolet dealers across North America, which no import can match. And that won’t hurt.
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