Chevy Beat, Groove, and Trax concepts; No US Beat, but Groove and Trax

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joey D
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Joey D
I still don't think these are really slated for the US market, they will probably be for sale here but remember Chevy is a "world brand" now so they will more than likely be sold else where...mainly China. But in order not to lag behind in the game, GM does need an uber small car just in case they do take off here for some unexplained reason.
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Its hard to say for certain that they are specifically designed for the US market, but certainly I think it is apparent that they were designed with the US in mind. I've been clicking around the interweb, and the debut has been covered by most international automotive websites...

...The Top Gear page had a splash about them, and of all things, they were most excited about the controvercial Groove concept. Beyond that, I was watching CNN this morning, and they were talking about the three concepts as well, although they for the most part focused on the Beat model.

I think America is ready for small cars like these, and I think Chevrolet can deliver the product if we desire. Going between the two outside reports, Top Gear made it sound as though these will be the next-gen Aveo/Matiz models, which likely means that all three will see production in some way, but with probably split the badges between Chevrolet, Vauxhall, Opel, Suzuki, Daewoo, etc.

We'll see. CNN made it clear that even though responces may be positive to these vehicles, there isn't a guarantee that they will be built. GM obviously wants to be certain that they can build them, and indeed sell them, before they can do anything.
 
Let me make a note that this Chevy Beat deal is not like the Beat most of us know of Honda lore (I think they should bring that back). I'll individually approve these three concepts. As I always say, it may look ugly at first. The point is to look beyond the concept and imagine it as if it were on the road today or very soon.

Let's do this.

The dimensions of the Beat seem a bit taller than the lovely Yaris hatchback. I don't know... looks alright. I can imagine this on the road right now. Trouble is, I am not sure if its design will really stick well with the economic and (especially) tuner crowds. Do you all remember another car which I said that I wasn't sure the tuner crowd would connect with? Right- the Dodge Caliber. Well, I don't know about this car as well. I'm giving it a chance as it doesn't look terribly bad. So out of 100% approval and if this were out as is right now, I would give the Beat about 65% approval. * The Groove looks like an evolution of the HHR, only (in my view) uglier. I liked the HHR as it was from the same guys who did the PT Cruiser. I'm noticing that these vertically-elongated grills are the latest styling trend. We've seen this on cars ranging from the Chrysler 300 to the latest Audis. It only works when done right. That crossbar design up front would kind of look better if the bottom line of the headlights kind of matched the top line of the crossbar. In other words, I probably would have brought down that crossbar some so the design looks more proportional. Will this vehicle actually get people into the HHR to get into this car as well? Could it possibly win over some Dodge Nitro lovers? Those will be my storylines for this car when released. Out of 100% approval, I give the Groove a not-so-groovy 70% * Finally, the Trax. I thought of the old Geo Tracker of the mid-1990s when this word came into my mind for some reason. I think this vehicle takes a rabbit punch at Jeep. The styling exercise on this thing clearly shows that Chevy wants to get into a tug-o-war with Jeep. I probably won't go as far as "unoriginal" to describe the Trax, but... well... maybe it is unoriginal in a sense. Maybe it's a new species in which the Pontiac Vibe evolved with some Jeep DNA to make the Trax. Maybe this Vibe to Trax evolution is more like Pikachu to Raichu. I think this design takes shots at Jeep. Get ready for a big fight, Chevy. Out of 100% approval, I'd probably give the Trax 60%. The big deterrent is unoriginality.

Which am I most likely to get if I were to choose one of them? Probably the Beat because I'm not really an SUV-looking car thingy guy. I think I'd best connect with the beat. Only as long as it isn't as much of a roomy joke as the Aveo, I'm cool with it.

And there you have it. Three birds with one stone. You dig?
 
I like the idea, just not the execution. they look like they belong on a shelf with the rest of my toys. Wouldn't these encroach on Aveo territory? or are they replacements?
 
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The engine from this, in this:
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The Groove is just too obvious a design to implement. So, we're going for small cars for fuel-efficiency, right? Why design them to look like inefficient bricks? Also, I'm terribly unimpressed by the American fascination with armored-car style visual ergonomics.

The Trax shares some of that, but it's more practical. I love the 'toon looks compared to the me-too Scionish looks of the Beat.
 
I saw these on Nightline or something. They had their Korean designers design these cars, and the bigwigs were talking about how their cars in the past were kind of..... undesirable, because their car designs started from engineering-end, first. Now, they start from the exterior. They also did mention that these concepts are intended for the U.S.

I like the first two(Beat & Groove?). Sure, they look like ripoffs, but looks are pretty catchy. I don't like the last one that looks like a Jeep Liberty ripoff.

I can understand the concern regarding small displacement engines, but by the time these cars might actually make it into production, gas prices around here might be 4 bucks a gallon or something. There might be a decent size market for these cars in the near future.

P.S. I don't think Daihatsu will ever come back to the States. They probably still have nightmares about their last stint on this side of the Pacific. :D
 
who is designing these things, seriously.

Is that the best they could come up with? I could draw a better looking car on a piece of paper, and i cant even draw.

If this is what im going to have to look forward to in the future I may :indiff: even buy :nervous: a Japanese car :yuck:

I wouldn't doubt that these pos' would sell great seeing that the American public doesn't even know what a real car is anymore. All they need to do is get some stupid magazine to say that the car is great, and they'll sell like hotcakes.

and i love that little suzuki ( i cant believe its name escapes me right now )
 
TEAMDiablo3
who is designing these things, seriously.

Is that the best they could come up with? I could draw a better looking car on a piece of paper, and i cant even draw.

If this is what im going to have to look forward to in the future I may :indiff: even buy :nervous: a Japanese car :yuck:

I wouldn't doubt that these pos' would sell great seeing that the American public doesn't even know what a real car is anymore. All they need to do is get some stupid magazine to say that the car is great, and they'll sell like hotcakes.

and i love that little suzuki ( i cant believe its name escapes me right now )
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Alto :)
 
I think people are forgetting these are just concepts, if they do produce them they will look no where near the way they do now.
 
They aren't worse then any other modern little car. And ugly sells for some strange reason...unless of course that ugly is an Aztek.
 
Joey D
They aren't worse then any other modern little car. And ugly sells for some strange reason...unless of course that ugly is an Aztek.
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Because the average American is stupid and will buy whatever 'J.D. Power and Associates' labels as a good car.
 
Well at this point anything looks better than an xB or and xD... so I could see why these catch on... well untill people start to experience GM quality. lol
 
GM's quality isn't bad, it's 2007 not 1987. The only GM vehicle I can think of that sucks in quality and just all aroundness is the Ion/Cobalt/G5 combo. Everything else isn't bad, it's not top of the line but it isn't what most people seem to think of it as.

Have you been in a GM vehicle lately?
 
That's the point I try to bring across when talking about concept cars. People immediately assume that this is how the cars would look when they hit the road. Concepts can be ugly as sin at times, but they are just that- concepts. And what do I always say? NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING! I think (depending on peoples' tastes) the Beat and Groove may likely be the two hottest products if released right now. Who knows? People may hate the concept, but absolutely love the final form. May never know.
 
Joey D
GM's quality isn't bad, it's 2007 not 1987.
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...And its also part of the reason why GM wants to do this now and not two years from now before the competition gets there first. GM has always had a knack for showing up late to the party, and it may be anyones guess, but it would appear as though GM is throwing this one, at least in the US anyway...

If anything, that is the most important thing from all of this. No matter how much the liberal, anti-GM/Ford/Chrysler folks kick and scream, they want to sell smaller cars in the US before the Japanese and the Europeans do. While I would suppose that the Smart will beat everyone to it, GM could likely wind-up as the volume leader with cars such as these, and with gasoline prices on-track to hitting $4 a gallon in the US this summer, you can bet that interest in these cars are going to be at their Zenith in the not too distant future...

...And while I love my GM models to death, it makes me hope that VW things about dragging the Polo or the Fox back to the US as well...
 
"Concept" seems to be used loosely because most of the time a concept starts out great but by the time it hits productions it's watered down and there's nothing left of the original concept which is further watered down if it's from Europe and imported to the US...
 
...Good news is that GM has been getting better at making concepts that are 'real-world-based' and thereby require few changes to be placed intro production. The SSR comes to mind, as well as the upcoming Camaro (which will change in dimensions by no more than a few MM in height and width, wheel sizes will go down a bit)...

Granted, the outrageous interior in the Beat likely wouldn't make it completely to production, but the general look may, and it is a good thing...I think it looks fairly nice.

...As for European concepts getting watered down, you could say the same thing about many of the Japanese concepts as well. The only concept car I can think of that has translated fairly well towards production is the Lexus LF-A, but even from the get-go, Toyota wanted to build a prototype with production possibilities...

While this may be viewed as a design exercise by some on behalf of GM, it is pretty clear that they want to build one of them... Problem is, they have to choose one...
 
lol.

I think the beat and groove would do fairly well with a few design modifications. Its the trax that makes me want to hurl :yuck:, i don't think any design change could save that thing.
 
The Alto? Gads... have any of you driven that thing? I don't know if the 4x4 special version is any different, but the base FF Alto has the steering feel of a delivery van and the tires of a bicycle. True, it does have a fair bit more suspension isolation than the Honda Fit, but that's all it's got going for it... besides that beautiful, zippy little three pot engine.

So, I'm the only one who likes the looks of the Trax? Guess I'm pretty tasteless... :lol: ...but this brings up a point... the Scion line actually works because those ungainly boxes appeal to the anti-car crowd... the people GM actually has to impress to get the train running again in Detroit. Go for something sexy but conventional, and you have another me-too product running behind the Japanese market-leaders... desing something different that catches on, and you have a sub-segment pretty much all to yourself.
 
Would some of you agree that the Trax looks too much like a Jeep?
 
Actually I think it looks more like a squished one of these...
2006-Land-Rover-Defender.jpg
 
JohnBM01
Would some of you agree that the Trax looks too much like a Jeep?
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Actually, my first thoughts were of the Dodge M80 concept...

Dodge_M80.jpg


I recall a time in which that was supposed to hit at how the next Neon would have looked...

...Hmmm, didn't work out quite right...
 
Uh-oh...

C/D
Unless something drastic changes, like gas prices going through the roof for more than a month, or a sudden fashion shift to tiny cars, General Motors likely won’t sell its newest Chevy minicar in the U.S.

GM used the New York auto show to unveil the triplets: the Chevrolet Trax, Beat, and Groove concepts.

Using a North American show for the unwrap shows Chevy’s global breadth and scope, said Bob Lutz, GM vice chairman-product development, but the U.S. is not likely to get one, based on current conditions.

The public is being asked to vote on which of the three hatches they prefer: the Trax is a five-door urban SUV; the Groove is a boxy five-door with a West Coast hot-rod attitude and boxy Scion xB shape, and the Beat is a three-door with micro-tuner design language.

The engines are 1.2 liters or less, with three or four cylinders, and the possibility of a small diesel, Lutz said.

The public’s whims will be “considered” as part of GM’s decision as to which one goes into production, something Lutz said will happen in the “relatively near future,” which he defines as within normal development time.

Judging by needs and the capital budget, probably only one will get the green light, but styling cues from the also-rans may make it into future small cars, Lutz said.

The triplets were designed and engineered in the South Korea global design studio. They are not engineered to meet U.S. safety requirements, but Lutz said if GM does think North American needs a Chevy minicar, the chosen one can be homologated relatively quickly.

It could enjoy a simultaneous launch with markets where it fits best, such as China, India, other parts of Asia, and Europe. It would be badged Chevy for every market but Korea where it would wear a Daewoo nameplate. Essentially, the triplets are the next-generation of the Daewoo Matiz, known as the Chevy Spark in China.

Lutz said the car would have to be priced about $10,000 for sale in the U.S. Whether that is possible will depend on where it is made, currency exchange and a host of other variables. It would be GM’s smallest offering in the U.S., an A-segment car, one size smaller than the Chevy Aveo which is classified as a B-segment. Expect fuel economy in the 48- to 50-mpg range.

Cars are big business globally for GM, Lutz reminds us, accounting for 83 percent of sales outside North America last year, or about 5.3 million cars.
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Well, thats too bad really. I was kinda hoping that I would eventually be able to afford a 'Trax.'
 
"Not likely to get one based on current conditions..."
Let me guess: The cars won't meet CAFE standards?



Of course, the fact that they are much smaller than the Aveo yet cost the same may be a rather large hurdle, and I can't see the Aveo moving upmarket into Golf territory, as that would both be a horrible joke and would steal Cobalt sales.
So, either GM sells each and every one at a loss (probably around $8,000) or they don't sell them here, period.
 
Its a Zombie Invasion! Another Dead Thread, REVIVED!

Autoblog
So what about the Chevy Beat? The subcompact hatch is slated to arrive in Europe next year as the Spark, replacing the vehicle that shares the same name. However, GM didn't intend for the Beat (or Spark) to be offered in the U.S., so it doesn't meet federal safety and crash standards. It would take too much money and about two years to bring the Beat up to snuff for sales in the U.S., so Lutz conceded that it wouldn't be coming to the U.S. until the next generation arrives... whenever that is.
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Buttttt......

Autoblog
General Motors won't be bringing the Beat to the U.S., but some version of the Groove or Trax will replace the Aveo by 2011. Speaking with Automotive News, Chevy veep Ed Peper said that the bow-tie brand would get something "very similar to one of those vehicles," but in order to meet U.S. crash test standards and accommodate consumer's taste, the new compact five-door would grow in size.

Of the three concepts that debut in New York last year, the Beat will be the first to reach consumers -- in Europe and other markets in 2009 -- and will be built atop GM's global minicar platform in Shanghai. However, the yet-to-be-named Aveo replacement will be underpinned by GM's Gamma small-car platform and will likely be assembled in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

While GM's decision to bring a more stylish small car to U.S. consumers is certainly good news, we can't help but still feel slighted that the Beat won't be offered in the States and that we'll have to put up with the Aveo for another three years as the only sub-compact offering from the General.
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I'll have the Trax (the orange one), thanx. Given that its showing up in Transformers 2, at least in my opinion, solidifies the fact that we'll likely be getting it. Still... I don't want to deal with the Aveo anymore.
 
I'd have the Trax too, over the current Chevrolet Spark. The current Spark is a big meh in terms of styling... the Chery QQ (which is a clone of the Matiz) actually looks better... :lol:
 

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