GM Korea Chevrolet Aveo Sedan

2012 GM Korea Chevrolet Aveo Sedan

The addition of the 4-door sedan variant to GM Korea's Chevrolet Aveo (coming soon to North America as the Sonic) marks the sixth Chevrolet out of the eight models to arrive in South Korea thanks to the company name transition from GM Daewoo to GM Korea, using the Chevrolet brand as a front. The first five were the active life vehicle Orlando MPV, the Aveo 5-door hatchback, Bumblebee Camaro, C6 Corvette coming soon, and the real SUV Captiva (changed its name from the highly criticized Daewoo Winstorm). The last two remaining are the Cruze Hatchback and the global Malibu mid-size sedan, which they will be built at Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, South Korea. Seems that GM Korea Company's aggressive launch portfolio seems to be working after all and everyone appreciated the positive tactics done by GM Korea Company CEO, Mike Arcamone.

The same fun riding goodness from the Aveo five-door hatchback now in the 4-door sedan form. This will be the hardcore compact sedan Koreans would love to have it since the Aveo hatchback went on sale at March 2011, which is the date when GM Daewoo changed it into Chevrolet officially except for the Damas van, Labo mini truck, and the Alpheon flagship sedan. The four-door look of the GM Korea Aveo sedan makes it even more enticing but the lines made it more disappointing in the eyes of design-conscious consumer. Most of them think that the Aveo 4-door is more poorly designed and some would prefer the Hyundai Accent RB or the upcoming Kia Pride/Rio/K2 in my opinion. Once they look at the Aveo sedan, they would react that this car was made in China because it looks similar to the China-made Chevrolet Sail. It was a rather disappointing design but will this work against the Hyundai Accent RB and the upcoming Kia Pride/Rio/K2 in terms whatever the heck is?

Despite the design is mistakingly Chinese, the Korean-made Aveo sedan comes with the 1.6L 16-valve DOHC engine, capable of releasing 114ps/6000rpm of power output, 15.1kg-m/4000rpm of torque output, and it comes with two transmission types; a 6-speed automatic transmission and a 5-speed manual transmission. The 6-speed automatic transmission comes with a Manual Mode that allows the driver to press the "+" button to shift up and the "-" button to shift down. This would be rather disappointing and the 5-speed manual seems to rather redundant even for those young Korean drivers who have desires over manual transmission cars. In terms of fuel economy, the Aveo sedan's 1.6L 6AT grade can go up to 15km/L while the Aveo sedan's 1.6L 5MT grade can go up to 17.6km/L. I would recommend them the 5MT variant of the Aveo sedan because of its fuel efficiency.

2012 GM Korea Chevrolet Aveo interior

Despite the ugly exterior design on the Aveo Sedan, the interior looks cool enough to please the customers. With the Dynamic Meter Cluster penned from the Chevrolet Spark, three-spoke steering wheel, ice blue ambient lighting, and a hint of entertainment system, the Aveo sedan satisfies the customers' cravings over compacts.

My Comment:
It's rather disappointing about the Aveo sedan's design and I still prefer the 5-door hatchback variant of the GM Korea Aveo because the rear view was heavily inspired from the Chevrolet Spark. Despite the troubles I said, the Aveo 4-door sedan is the sixth Chevrolet out of the eight models coming to South Korea thanks to the transition from GM Daewoo Auto and Technology to GM Korea Company. With the arrival of the Orlando, Aveo 5-door, Camaro, Corvette, Captiva, along with the remaining two Korean-made Chevrolet cars to be built in the Bupyeong plant soon are the Cruze Hatchback and the new Malibu mid-size sedan, the sixth member makes GM Korea's aggressive launch campaign more interesting and this latest variant matches up against the Hyundai Accent RB and the upcoming Kia Pride/Rio/K2. If it hits the Philippines soon, if TCCCI has the chance, this would be a fierce rival against our compact favorites such as the Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Accent, Toyota Belta, or even the Mazda 2/Demio.

Photo: GM Korea Company