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The Brazilian-market 2010 Chevrolet Agile has debuted, possibly providing a preview for the forthcoming Aveo replacement.
32 Comments on “What’s Wrong With This Picture: Ave-who? Edition...”
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What’s wrong is that people will speak negatively of the car’s interior, driving dynamic, and MPG even though they’ve never been in the vehicle. And then those same people will snicker when someone brings up the notion of a perception gap. And then when the Agile really turns out to be a stinking pile, the cynics will be vindicated for their rash judgments.
I dunno, I kind of think it needs a bigger C-pillar.
@ProfessorSlow: Why have any windows at all? Periscopes for everyone!
Kia Rio is the new black?
Whats wrong is the badge. In Brazil, GM used the round opel circle with the chevy bow tie inside the circle. Circle is missing now that Opel is going away?
it looks ok, not a bad looking car considering its a daewoo
agile is used as an opel mark so dunno if gm will be able to call this car like that after parting from opel
the real news would be the vw gol that is sold in brasil. now thats THE real crime
Looks like a Chevy Caliber. You know, if the two government-owned automakers merged.
It’s almost 2010; why are we still seeing cars with blacked-out side trim to suggest window shapes that aren’t there? How amateurish.
Looks like a 1996 Geo Metro w/ calf and chin implants.
Not one of GM Design’s better jobs, considering that they’ve been on a roll lately. OTOH, GM’s Latin America SBU is one of the company’s more competent and I think, profitable, operations. So if the design is the result of input from GM’s crew in Brazil, it might work in that market.
Not as bad as a Rodius, but that was the first thing I thought of when I saw the picture.
Looks like a real design-by-committee job. Half the team wanted a four-door “coupe” … and designed the doors accordingly. But the other half wanted to build a tall roof wagon … and they designed the roof. On top of that, it’s got the same odd stance as a Pontiac Vibe, making the wheels look much too small. And what’s with the bloody truck grill? Were they really chasing that Caliber cachet?
At least the pointless and tacky fake fender vents didn’t make it into the redesign. Hopefully they are on the way out.
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gottacook :
August 21st, 2009 at 10:45 pm
It’s almost 2010; why are we still seeing cars with blacked-out side trim to suggest window shapes that aren’t there? How amateurish.
Not bad…until you get past the rear doors. Yikes.
The upcoming Ford Fiesta is proof that you don’t need to make cars like this look ugly.
There are a lot of talented people at GM. But you never hear someone being brave or entrepreneurial?
Never has greatness come of cowardice. Somewhere in the bowels of GM, a talented man is sobbing at what he didn’t prevent.
i am so sick of blacked out c-pillar trims. it’s one of the top 5 most annoying design trends at the moment.
i really hope they are not considering a faux CUV as the Aveo replacement
Like caledonia says, it does look like a Dodge Caliber.
djn :
August 21st, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Whats wrong is the badge. In Brazil, GM used the round opel circle with the chevy bow tie inside the circle. Circle is missing now that Opel is going away?
The change to the American style, no-circle golden Chevrolet bow-tie happened before Opel was publicly known to be in risk of disappearing. It was already planned for some 5 years ago or more.
“On top of that, it’s got the same odd stance as a Pontiac Vibe, making the wheels look much too small. And what’s with the bloody truck grill? Were they really chasing that Caliber cachet?”
Now comes the task of (really) selling the small compact car to the truck crowd. Awkward indeed. This has been a continual hurdle for GM… and how to introduce a “quality” compact car to their kind of customer?
Got the name right though. AGILE. Such is the advantage of the hatchback and compacts… stunning agility. Seriously, it could drive brilliantly… we will have to find out when someone reviews it.
It’s probably better than the Aveo. Probably…
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ConejoZing: “It’s probably better than the Aveo. Probably…”If making an Aveo look like a cross between a Caliber and new Equinox is better, along with considering how low the bar was set, anyway, it doesn’t really sound like much of an accomplishment.
I suppose it’s possible that GM/Daewoo made some stunning chassis/driveline improvements, but I’m not holding my breath. I’d be more inclined to believe that it’s just the typical GM corporate restyle (you know, the same one they’ve been doing for the last forty years) with nothing substantive being changed.
gottacook :
It’s almost 2010; why are we still seeing cars with blacked-out side trim to suggest window shapes that aren’t there? How amateurish.
I wholly agree with you, and would add the obvious outlines of the doors (particularly the window surrounds). Something about that screams “CHEAP” to me.
What is up with GM using that catfish faced front end with the screaming bow tie? Chevy started it in the 2003 with the full sized trucks and spread the look across it’s whole product line up. It might give the whole Chevy line up family unity. But it’s one ugly family.
It’s a cheap-ass rebadged Daewoo from GM aimed at the low-proletariat. In other words the powers that be don’t see it as worthy of being any better than a hodge-podge of design generalities.
Deepsouth: +1. Is it a good thing to have a family resemblance when the family is so ugly? The horrid front is the only bad view on the Malibu, which is otherwise a very attractive car.
Memo to Chevy design: New look, ASAP
Deepsouth: that was during the Wayne Cherry era where he was working on “brand identities” for GM’s products. To quote: “We’re having fun”.
I guess bukkakes are fun for someone in some way.
And this from the man who hated the design of the ION when he saw it in the styling studio.
After what they did to the Cavalier and the Colorado, I’ll take that as a compliment!
They really need to drop the gooney bird front ends on the Chevrolets and find a new ham handed styling cue they can beat to death in pursuit of “brand identity”.
Makes the modest, anonymous Cobalt look like a prize winning Italian design.
DweezilSFV: “They really need to drop the gooney bird front ends on the Chevrolets and find a new ham handed styling cue they can beat to death in pursuit of “brand identity”.
Makes the modest, anonymous Cobalt look like a prize winning Italian design.”Yeah, this is one area where GM’s entry-level marque, which has always aimed at the bottom-feeder end of the market (with the exception of the low-volume, performance-oriented Corvette and Camaro), really took a nose dive. You know things are bad when their current designs make both the last rear-drive Impala and the ‘bland’ current version look good.
Since the start of the new millenium, it’s like the Big 2.8 have generally been doing their level best to see who could make the worst-looking vehicle. The Caliber and Focus are bad and, while the Aztek will likely go down in history as the vehicle that sunk Pontiac, that weird, horizontal split-headlight look that Chevrolet adopted on both full-size and compact light-duty pickups starting in 2003 was a fad that never looked right.
The trouble is, the new, Lutz-approved, goofy, Malibu style front end on most of the Chevrolet line isn’t any better. I firmly believe that the Malibu would have been a big success (instead of just selling okay) if it weren’t for the poorly styled front end (and rear, too, for that matter). Now, whenever there’s a styling update, all volume-sold Chevrolets will be saddled with the same front styling to maintain brand recognition.
The only thing Detroit ever really had going for it was the ability to offer well-styled cars in a price range that anyone could afford. Once they lost that mojo, the game was over. It’s really saying something when the best styling cues Detroit can come up with are all taken from designs that were released decades ago (Thunderbird, PT Cruiser, and all the retro ponycars).
Is this car an AWD or what’s with huge gaps between top of the tire and a fender?
honey! I shrunk the Equinox!
I don’t think this car is any indication of the next Aveo; the chassis may be similar but that’s it. This car is designed by GM of Brazil, hence the absurd ground clearance (for Brazil’s crappy roads) and general cheapyness. Besides the Aveo prototypes that’ve been spotted don’t really look much like this car at all.
Poor GM do Brasil!! They have to make the best of it. I mean, this is an “all-new” sheetmetal stuffed on top of a platform that derives from the 1st generation Opel Corsa (circa 1990??). You must pity the poor engineers.
FWIW GM has the balls to call this unpromising compromise a “premium” hatch, since they’ve already got the slightly smaller Celta as their “bottom-feeder”.
But rest assured my American and Western European friends, this car wil never “grace” your roads and cities. It’s a pure hackjob intended only for us underdeveloped and less demanding people in Latin America, which will eventually make its way into Russia and Eastern Europe, possibly Africa and Middle East, though Asia will be spared this car, as they have enough Daewoos already.
Anyway, the market is not as dumb as it once was, and I don’t believe that without serious tweaking and/or low pricing w/ better equipment levels it’ll be able to make a dent into Fiat’s and VW’s dominance of the so-called premium compact class. In fact, (peering into my crystal ball) it’ll probably distract GM enough to help them on down the slippery slope of losing market share they’ve been on for the last 3 yrs. Yes, the market is in a record year, and sales are up, and GM is making record money. But they’re making less money proportionally vis-à-vis the competition and slowly but surely being undermined by the others.
Finally this is all conjectural as the car has NOT been launched yet, and that picture is the 1st official picture of the car without any camuflage. Sales will only start in a couple of months or more, and the car is actually being built only in Argentina (which, again is another negative point as cars from that nation, in my mind unfairly, “enjoy” a negative, in Lutz-speak, “perception gap” in Brazil).
Well, Autoblog told us that this is not the second-gen Aveo.. so therefore it’s not coming to the states. So I’m not too worried
Why imply things that are just not true??
This is NOT a preview of the Aveo.
God, this site sometimes.