New York Auto Show: Vote for Chevy

On April 4 at the 2007 New York Auto Show in Jacob Javitz Center GM unveiled three small, edgy concepts from Chevrolet. Stage dancers, blonde triplets, and a dubious MC were all part of the mix in what can only be described as a media menagerie for Chevy Groove, Beat, and Trax.

All three cars, designed by the South Korean Daeawoo division are based on GM's global mini car platform and intended to target primarily young urban car buyers. Despite the promotional blitz of overcompensating marketing phrases like the "urban grunge", micro cars themselves are quite appealing. Each with its own unique personality, Groove, Beat, and Trax show a clear break from the traditional "Chevy look". People can also vote for their favorite Chevy concept at vote4chevrolet.com. The website is a direct pipeline to potential buyers and will go a long way to determining which of the concepts will be put to production first.

General Motors' head of global design Ed Welburn presented the trio by saying that small cars can too be "cool, bold, stylish, and fun". Of course these statements are self-evident to most Europeans, who have always paid much more at the pump than Americans. Even Robert Lutz, the vice chairman of GM acknowledged that "83 percent of sales outside of North America were cars, not trucks". What Lutz forgot to mention was that these cars are mostly compacts that GM has been selling abroad with great success for a couple of decades - high quality, agile micro cars that are just like the new Chevy threesome.

Touted as a "micro import tuner" by its creators from GM's Inchon design studio in South Korea, Beat resembles Toyota Yaris hatchback, but looks much sharper and sportier. The interior is very techie with a dash that has a neat, grouped layout of digital and analog instrumentation. Chevy Groove is roomier and has a curious Darth Vader helmet appearance. Ed Welburn explained that Groove was fashioned in a retro, "West Coast" style. It was presented in what Chevy calls "Lunar Quartz" and would definitely look much fresher with a different paint job. Chevy Trax is perhaps the most viable of the three concepts. It offers a five-door SUV design that is both utilitarian and trendy, making it an ideal mini car for the American urban dwellers.

Although the concepts were most likely just shells, Chevy says that the engine bays of Groove and Trax were designed for the 1.0 liter diesel. The Beat will be powered by a higher revving 1.2 liter turbo. The one liter variation of the power plant is most closely related to the popular European 0.8 three-cylinder Chevy Matiz, which is likely to be replaced by one of the triplets. Though very few details are available, in all likelihood Chevy will slightly increase engine displacement for the American production models.

Besides the Korean-made Chevy Aveo, the world's largest automaker has yet to sell any cars in this segment to US consumers. But despite their late market entry, the new golden bow tie concepts represent GM's first serious commitments to offering exciting, fuel efficient mini cars in North America. "It's a sign of things to come" - says Welburn. Let's hope so.