With a starting price of $14,495 for the sedan and $15,395 for the hatchback, the Sonic will compete against such entries as the Ford Fiesta, Nissan Versa and Fiat 500, which are all made in Mexico.
Other competitors include the Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit, both made in Japan.
The Sonic replaces the South Korea-built Aveo in the Chevy lineup, and was developed in that country. It still is being built there, under the Aveo name.
The new Aveo model already is on sale in 30 countries.
It was given a new name for the U.S. market because its predecessor wasn’t highly regarded here, and the Sonic is a completely different vehicle. The original Aveo came from GM’s Daewoo division, the result of the U.S. company’s takeover of the former South Korean automaker in 2001.
Building the Sonic in suburban Detroit is a gamble because domestic automakers never have been able to produce affordable small cars in the United States, largely because of more expensive United Auto Workers labor.
But the union struck a unique deal with GM to get the Sonic in job-starved Michigan, allowing the automaker to pay line workers about $14 an hour instead of the $28 they get at other GM, Ford and Chrysler plants. That was the only way GM would have been able to produce the car in the United States at a profit, and the UAW was desperate for the jobs.
With fuel prices above $3.50 a gallon again, as they were when the auto industry began its tailspin in late 2008, subcompacts are selling well. More than 196,000 were sold in the first half of this year, up from 140,000 in the same period last year.
Fuel economy for the Sonic has not been announced yet, although GM has said that the optional 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine will get up to 40 mpg on the highway. It comes with a six-speed manual transmission and is rated at 138 horsepower and 148 foot-pounds of torque.
The turbo upgrade will add $700 to the price of the car, but it will not be offered on the base LS model.
The LS gets a 1.8-liter Ecotec four-cylinder engine and five-speed manual transmission. This engine produces 138 horsepower and 125 foot-pounds of torque, outpacing such competitors as the Fit (117 horsepower) and Fiesta (120). A six-speed automatic transmission is available for $1,070.
Standard at even the base price will be air conditioning, tilt/telescopic steering wheel, power door locks with remote and 15-inch alloy wheels.
Sonic will have the most standard safety equipment in its class, GM says, including 10 air bags, electronic stability control with rollover sensing, traction control, antilock brakes, collapsible pedal system and power rear-door child safety locks.
Also standard is GM’s great OnStar telematics system, which includes turn-by-turn navigation (free six-month subscription), automatic crash reporting, and remote vehicle unlocking and diagnostics, among other features.
GM says the suspension system was designed by Corvette engineers to give it what GM says will be the best-in-class ride and handling.
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