When the little Chevrolet Spark launches in the U.S. Market starting July of this year, it will enter a territory few would have thought the Bow Tie brand would enter in the region. First off, the little car — which is 14.3 inches shorter than the Fiat 500 — will be the smallest vehicle in the Chevy lineup, and will be imported from Korea. When it arrives, buyers will find under 100 horsepower, 82.5 to be exact, under the small 1.2L 4-cylinder under the little hood, flanked by two enormous headlamps. The interior will come standard with Chevy MyLink and a 7-inch touchscreen, where it’s otherwise pretty basic.
The whole point of the Spark is to offer American buyers an expressive, and affordable means of urban transportation. And while it hasn’t been priced yet, expect it to carry a base price closer to $10,000, undercutting the Sonic’s base price of just under $14,000. We also await just how much efficiency we will get from the 82.5-horse engine and its estimated curb weight of around 2,300 pounds, along with the estimated range of the upcoming all-electric model. However, challenges await.
It remains to be seen how well the little car will do on America’s speedy interstate highways — as it more or less belongs in the concrete jungle and not the open road. And as is the general challenge of selling miniature cars here in America: Chevy is going to have to find a way to get urban consumers into something that small, and then convince them that it’s better than simply taking the bus.
Comments
Will Be Priced Below Sonic, let’s hope so, the electric better be under the Sonic LTZ in price.
Made in Korea? No thanks.
I wouldn’t get so uptight about this bring made in Korea if Korea imported US cars. If, for instance, all Korean Cruzes were made in Ohio, I would be happy to buy this car. Until GM does this, I will never buy a Korean made car.
I guess it will ride pretty good on highway despite its small engine
Hunter/Kevin; seriously… Why don’t you just say I don’t like this car. Where it’s built is irrelevant, I just bought an HHR made in Mexico all my other GM cars were made In the US. Ru a GM fan or ru just pro UAW… My last understanding is this is a blog about GM cars not a UAW fan site…
Kevin what cars do you own, you say you would never buy a GM car built in Korea then put it out there what do you own; It’s a world economy, ok for that matter what cars have you owned in the last 15 years guarantee there’s a foreign built car in there…
As long as its fun to drive, who cares if it’s made in Korea!!? This is one problem I find GM needs to fix. They need to start experimenting. Put a few Sparks on the lot and sell them. If Toyota can sell their pathetic IQ on lots, why can’t Chevy have an option for an urban scooter? GM needs to give options!!
I’m not saying its a bad car, I’m just more for supporting a company that has made the extra effort to invest in the U.S.
Yabadabadoo- you will be surprised to hear that I am actually anti-union. I simply prefer US made products.
With that, I do not mind foreign made products if trade is balanced. I actually have a GM car made in Mexico, but it doesn’t bother me since Mexico buys loads of US built cars as well.
If you can name two MAJOR cars sold by GM Korea that are made in the US, (like how the Encore and Spark are major cars made in Korea) I will take back everything I said.
There’s the Corvette, and that’s it.
We were told that if the Spark was feasible to be built here, it would be. Simply put, a car this cheap cannot be built with American labor costs. I don’t think American workers were going to take the kind of cuts needed to make the business case plausible.
Kevin, how would GM Korea build a car in the US, you act like GM Korea and GM are two different companies; GM purchased Daawoo outright if Iam not mistaken and has since turned that operation over to Chevy branded vehicles; that in my mind would make it one company called GM, not a separate business; correct me if Iam wrong. So at the end of the day you buy foreign cars if you feel like it and presently you own a GM made in Mexico but God forbid you buy a GM car made by GM from Korea, Koreans buy GM built cars, there is a version of the Buick Lacrosse GM sells there, so the whole balance thing seems fairly balanced to me. Trust me I believe in buying American and that is why I buy GM, it happens that the GM I liked was made in Mexico. So my question is, do you like the Spark or not.
I bought a 2012 Regal GS to give the General a try. So far, I’m impressed. With that said, GM is a global company. They have plants all over the world. There are going to be some GM cars built in other countries. My Regal was built in Oshawa. You people are too caught up in the brainwashing powers of companies like Hyundai and Toyota who claim their cars are more American because they are built in America. Where is their “MAIN” corporate headquarters? Still in Korea. Where is GM’s “MAIN” headquarters? Detroit, which last I looked, was still in America.
Good for you! My 1995 Regal was also built in Oshawa, and my 2009 Equinox was built in Canada with a GM-China engine and a GM-Suzuki transmission. Both are excellent vehicles and both are examples of GM international manufacturing. Besides, I prefer a GM world vehicle than any Japanese assembled in the U.S.
@Tim precisely. Ultimately, the profits flow back to the location/country of the HQ in the form of dividends to stock holders and asset compilation/reinvestment.
This gets complicated somewhat when a company’s stock is traded in multiple stock markets around the world, though.
i want it
I would actually consider the electric version. The ICE version might be fun if it had a small turbo 4 cyl but I see the normally aspirated version of this simply running out of breath on the freeway. Sure top speed will probably still be 100, but it’s going to take a while to get there.
I’m with you Jeremy. I think the Spark could be a great car if they…
1) Made a hot-hatch version similar to the MiniCooper-S
2) Gave it a true sport roof rack option rather than the simple luggage tie-down rails typical of old station wagons
3) Provided customization options like what we were supposed to get with the Sonic Z-spec (which no one mentions anymore, but which was supposed to be here by now). I’m talking about real upgrades, like chrome dash accents, custom paint (for the kids), arm rest (like the MINI), leather, etc.
But it won’t happen, because the old-timer GM execs still believe that small cars are purchased only by people who want something cheap. Got some money? You want the Suburban. A MINI-S competitor, that would be too much risk. (This despite the fact that MINIs are all over the roads here. We even have “MINI Fun Drives” that I know helped the cause, as there is now a dealership where we once had none. I was hoping to see the same kind of driving clubs develop for something like a dressed up GM Sonic or Spark. Not to be, of course. Z-spec won’t happen, and if it did, it would be a half-hearted attempt just to be able to say the car can be customized. It’s like the armrest saga. It’s there on paper, but you wouldn’t want to use it.
I should add that the dealership came into being during the worst recession since the depression, and at a time when other dealerships were closing up shop. What does that say about the interest for cars like this…those that are small, sporty, and can be customized/dressed up, but that have a commonality owing to a driving club?
market this to college students!! put in a great stereo and market the price and safety features to parents with kids going off to college. 10k for a new car that should get 35-40mpg. ill take one for a commuter myself.
like i said want it (im 18 and would love a hot version of this if not id make it a hot version)
Chevtothemax, check out on you tube some of the south American spark clubs, there is a specific video of tricked out sparks in Columbia…
I want a charcoal color with black racing stripes…
yabadabadoo could i get a link please i want to see that
A $13,000 EV city car? You bet! Buy one as a second car. For the wife to go get groceries and pick up the kids from school – Those trips where traditional non-plug-in hybrids are the least economical, and where big gas boats just suck fossil fuels like they were beers at Oktoberfest!
A123 batteries run more affordable than LG or other’s LiOn packs. This could be a great package to consider for a go-getter car to add to people’s fleet.
My brother who has lots of toys and a big gas-gulping fullsized truck went out and bought a used 2007 Honda Accord for just such in-town duty. He paid $12,000 for a low miles used car that gets approx. 26 MPG Combined.
Why not opt for the little Chevy EV instead? A new car with the potential to get hundreds of MPGe? The Nissan LEAF at $28,000-$33,000 has the same capabilities and limitations at a much higher price.
Food For Thought Dept.
I’m prepared to be disappointed by GM’s limited roll out of the EV version.
Jeremy, do you want to expand on your absolutely vague comment, what exactly are you talking about…
Just sayin’ GM hasn’t announced where and how many Spark EVs will be made available. I suspect very limited numbers in very limited areas (i.e. CA, NY)…it’s going to upset people that want the EV version and can’t get it. Much like what happened with the Volt and it’s very limited 1st year of production. I know a lot of people that wanted one, couldn’t get one, then purchased another vehicle because they couldn’t wait a year to buy a Volt. I say, if you’re going to do a full BEV, at least make it available in all areas to anyone that is wiling to put money down as a deposit.
@ Jeremy K –
Also be prepared for the negative news stories on Faux News re: The Sales Failure of GM’s Spark EV…
Don’cha think with the debacle of the Volt slow rollout that they would learn? Seriously, it’s painful watching auto companys come to the inevitable realization that electric is the future. Zinc-Air, and Lithium-Air batteries have shown incredible progress lately ( 400 miles per charge and 50% weight of Li ion ) and GM has invested in new cathode tech that will greatly improve upon existing battery performance.
GM actually has it goin’ on — some of the major engineers ( incl. Volt’s lead engineer, Frank Weber – gone to BMW ) on Voltec have left – Yet amazingly, GM still has a lead in EV development. The Volt, thanks to Laukner and Lutz, is genius – It should appear soon in various iterations. GM still has a core of excellent battery and EV engineers that make up the world’s best. So why do they plod along as if they’re behind?!!!! Is it their ties to Big Oil? Is it fear of winning? Is it a complex mixture of union obligations and the remaining old guard mindset still left in it’s downtown Detroit offices?
Yes, it’s hard to watch – but I feel inevitable that the auto industry is dragged into the new era kicking and screaming all the way. It’s expensive yes, but not as expensive as letting Middle Eastern and S. American country’s own us by our own unwillingness to evolve.
On the positive side, watch these two videos of Carroll Shelby driving and EV Cobra:
And this video of Cobra EV fun! -> donuts anyone?
@ Jeremy K –
Oops, here’s Carrol Shelby in the Cobra EV :
@ Yabadabadoo –
Jeremy is speaking about GM’s plans to build EV Spark in Korea and roll them out in the USA on a very limited basis starting with California.
Here’s GM’s announcement from Randy Fox on behalf of Electric Vehicle Technology Communications: “The Spark EV will be sold in limited quantities in select U.S. and global markets starting in 2013 (as a 2014 model), including California,” Fox said. “We have not announced any additional markets beyond California and have not said exactly when in 2013 they will be available. More news and information will be coming as we get closer to the introduction and launch of the Spark EV.”
Jeremy and I are in agreement that the Volt limited rollout was a farce, and since they had done so much extensive on-road engineering in all climates and conditions, Volt was ready for 50 state deployment ( and Canada ).GM trained dealer techs nationwide to work on Volts yet the dealers had no Volts to sell. Many purchased Volts from another state just to have one to show – while GM paid for nationwide ad campaigns as if Volt was obtainable – but wasn’t! In Washington State, the first Volts for sale were in November 2011, a year after the first Volts were on sale in those 7 states. A local dealer was asking $56,000 for their Volt they’d purchased from California! They started with 7 states and dribbled out Volts over a year until the internet was filled with over 2,000 stories proclaiming Volt was a “flop” or “Biggest Flop of 2011”, and that GM couldn’t move them. By the time Volt was available in 2/3rds of the nation, the NHTSA’s fire debacle was in full-swing. Meanwhile GM struggled with how to sell Volt and not make their other models look bad. So we got jumbled-message humor ads which the public-at-large just didn’t “get”. Truly GM completely fumbled the ball with it’s Volt sales rollout.
There are many entities who feel threatened by EVs and PHEVs including Big Oil and replacement part industries who do hundreds of billions of dollars in business per year – that will have to evolve with a new EV and hybrid car culture. There’s a lot of fear involved and, as the documentary “Who Killed The Electric Car” shared through wisdom from experts: ” Any life form on this planet that has not evolved in time will become extinct”. As extinct, you can say – as the dinosaurs that died who provide the non-sustainable fossil fuel that we depend on and are addicted to until this day.
Jeremy means that we’ll wait many moons until an EV Spark can sit in our driveways if we do not live in California or the other very limited areas in which it will be available. Thus, GM is opening themselves up ( AGAIN ) to the legion of attacks stating there are huge problems with EVs and PHEVs — AND THAT NOBODY WANTS ONE!
EV Spark sounds like it’ll be a bargain and a boon to many who can utilize it, even as a second or third car. EV Spark may never have a chance of success ( ala Volt ) because of GM’s ham-fisted process of eeking them out there into the real world. It’s painful if you want one, but have to wait endlessly while they get them onto the roads.
Interesting facts: Volt is built in our USA with LG batteries imported from Korea*. Spark is built in S. Korea with an A123 nanophosphate LiFE Po battery pack made in USA and exported to S. Korea.
*Volt’s LG packs will be manufactured in Holland, MI after the production facility is completed sometime in the next two years.
Haha, it’s like you were reading my mind…I posted before I saw that you pretty much answered the question.
I partially understand a limited roll out. Yes, it’s safe. If there’s a problem, the cars can be quickly/quietly repaired without a lot of bad press. A limited roll out is also something that might be done if GM is potentially losing money on each sale..so they want to carefully control volumes. I don’t know.
Jeremyk, ah yes I totally agree, they should intro it to the whole country as I to would like to have the opertunity to buy one.
Well, I like the new Chevy Spark. Chevrolet is releasing the Spark mini for just a shade under $13,000, which isn’t bad. Only a few businesses sell a mini car here in the U.S. However, Toyota, Fiat and Daimler cannot be left to corner the market, which is why Chevy is releasing the Spark. There are only 3 other mini vehicles on the market from major auto makers, so the field is relatively light at the moment. For more information go to: http://www.cardealexpert.com/model/24944/2013-Chevrolet-Spark