General Motors Corp., eyeing the growing number of small cars coming to the U.S. market, is considering importing from South Korea the Daewoo Matiz minicar built by its affiliate GM Daewoo.
Fuel savings of Matiz cited as factor, it gets around 45 mpg and is already sold as the Pontiac Matiz in Mexico.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6817288/

http://www.pontiac.com.mx/content_da...iz/diseno.html

Wouldnt this just be another Geo metro? Would it sell?

 

They already have that Aveo thing. Do we really need another ....wait...

I had no clue they are leading the segment.

 

Wow thats pretty good, I had no Idea the Aveo was doing that well. Looks like that investmen in Daewoo might pay off after all.

 

Man i've seen that Pontiac Matiz ont he road down here before (we get TONS of cars from mexico). That this is beyond stupid looking.

On a side note - most of the cars i see from Mexico that are unique to that country (or are cars not sold in the US i mean) look retarded.

 

Forrester Research analyst Mark Bunger said General Motors Corp. wants to make the Chevrolet division a competitor in the entry-level market in the wake of strides in recent years by South Korean automakers Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp.

"It's always been a tough market, because generally you're not making a lot of money on those cars," Bunger said. "Entry-level cars still have a tough time because they compete with used cars.

"For a lot of the traditional automakers, it is going to be a very difficult segment."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6816367/

 

Not a bad idea but GM needs to get some of their NA expertise working on the fuel economy of the Korean built fleet. The Aveo is a gas hog compared to the Echo.

 

IMO for an econobox to be successful, it must be cheap ($9995-14,995 MSRP), get excellent mileage (45-55 MPG), hold four adults comfortably, and be relatively inexpensive to maintain.

I'm just not sold on the idea of hybrids, especially when they're still so darn expensive.

 

you jus described a corolla. they are from like 12k-20+ and 35-40 mpg

 

Sounds like a good idea. GM needs to beet the competition to this segment. SMART is coming in '06/07 and Honda is planning a smaller than Civic car.

These small cars will also raise the CAFE avg. of GM allowing for more performance cars

I agree. Aveo should get the 1.8L Ecotec and 40mpg should be the target highway milage. The current 1.6L 107HP Aveo gets 35mpg wich is the same as the heavier and more powerful 2.2L Chevy Malibu