The image you see above is an illustration, and a heavily re-touched one at that. Still, this is not the work of some basement-dwelling, Chevy-obsessed Photoshop jockey. No, it is the work of a little outfit known as General Motors.
The company says that the images of its upcoming, not-lame-looking Aveo subcompact were released "by mistake." OK, sure.
The Aveo will slot between the upcoming Spark subcompact and the near-to-midsize upcoming Cruze sedan. That's slicing the small-car pie pretty narrowly, but at least the new Aveo looks like a vehicle that someone might actually want to drive, as opposed to the penalty box that is the current car. And that the new car's styling, inside and out, follows pretty closely to the racy-looking Aveo RS concept that the company unveiled at the Detroit Show at least implies that it might end up being fun to drive -- maybe.
We know that Chevy imagines the upcoming Aveo, at least in its available hatchback form, to be its entry into the hot-hatch segment, whether the company can pull this off we'll have to wait and see.
Note the remarkable similarity to the exclusive sketch we published months ago.
carguy622 says:
09:09 AM, 02/24/10
I hope they can pull this off. It looks pretty nice.
subytrojan says:
09:22 AM, 02/24/10
Your sketch was spot-on indeed, Dan! :thumbsup:
brn says:
09:27 AM, 02/24/10
Looks a zillion times better than the current Aveo, but that doesn't take much.
My only concern is moving it upscale might alienate the $10K crowd.
alman08 says:
09:35 AM, 02/24/10
If GM use this illustration to make a full size sedan (everything looking the same except just to make it much better), it would be the best looking Chevy in the line-up.
f1ndler says:
10:05 AM, 02/24/10
Finally, a Chevy that looks good. Why did it have to take several decades to make a good looking car?
stovt001 says:
10:13 AM, 02/24/10
alman08 is right, this would scale up nicely into a full-size sedan.
bankerdanny says:
10:17 AM, 02/24/10
Very sharp looking car. I continue to really like the current corporate Chevy nose. unlike Acura (and the horrible new Mazda nose) I haven't seen a car that it looks bad on.
1487 says:
10:21 AM, 02/24/10
"Finally, a Chevy that looks good. Why did it have to take several decades to make a good looking car?"
Malibu? camaro?
breif says:
10:34 AM, 02/24/10
Just as long as that orange-ish area isn't rock hard plastic...
greenpony says:
10:35 AM, 02/24/10
The Malibu, I'll admit, is a handsome design. Conservative but not boring. Upscale but not glitzy. Rounded and flowing, but with creases.
This Aveo? If you get rid of those gigantic "eyes", it looks nice enough. I'll give it a passive thumbs-up, but reserve final judgement until I see it in person.
The Camaro? Somebody tripped and fell in a puddle of ugly.
felonious says:
10:36 AM, 02/24/10
Looks good! I keep feeling like it's a Jetta with a more interesting front end. Not sure why, though.
j84ustin says:
10:36 AM, 02/24/10
Looks very similar to the Mitsubishi Lancer.
f1ndler says:
10:37 AM, 02/24/10
1487 says: Malibu is ugly outside and inside while Camaro has alright exterior the interior is still ugly, cheap and not functional. Every one has different tastes, some people still like those vomit inducing green dials.
jederino says:
10:39 AM, 02/24/10
@felonious, it does have that tidy look of a Jetta, but edgy and exciting. I hope the looks are not writing a check it can't cash. Still, why not a good looking, affordable car?
f1ndler says:
10:41 AM, 02/24/10
j84usti: Agree. And a little of bit of Volvo is in there too.
throwback says:
12:06 PM, 02/24/10
Looks a whole lot better than the Cruze. I like the interior, hopefully they don't do the GM thing and cheap it out with the crappiest plastic they can find.
firstwagon says:
03:11 PM, 02/24/10
It does look good but the biggest problem with the current Aveo is not the way it looks, it's the way it drives. It is completely outclassed by everything else on the market.
We'll have to wait and see how this one does againest the Fiesta, Mazda2 and the Fit.
bodyshopboy says:
04:19 PM, 02/24/10
Oh dear...The front end looks like an Evo mated with a preying mantis
bodyshopboy says:
04:25 PM, 02/24/10
Blink, dammit'!
roadburner says:
06:05 PM, 02/24/10
"Looks a zillion times better than the current Aveo, but that doesn't take much."
My Mazda dealer ran out of Mazda loaners one time and all Enterprise had was an Aveo. It was the textbook definition of "penalty box".
Ugh.
motonation says:
07:41 PM, 02/24/10
The outside looks great, but the instrument panel needs help - too many "pods". Nevertheless, its a step in the right direction...too bad they didn't bring this to market 15 years ago. Let's see how it develops.
kingisback350 says:
05:32 AM, 02/25/10
Beautiful but the interior looks a lot like the new Chevy Cruze interior.
estreka says:
08:52 AM, 02/25/10
Great looking car. But as someone stated earlier, the drivetrain needs to improve as well.