General Motors’ Australian arm, Holden, will sell the all-new, second-generation 2016 Chevy Spark supermini as the Holden Spark. That’s in stark contrast to the first generation of the vehicle, which was sold as the Barina Spark.
Holden named the first-gen model Barina Spark to more closely align it with the subcompact Barina — otherwise known as the Chevrolet Sonic or Chevrolet Aveo in other markets around the world. The initial idea was to have a small car family based on the Barina name. That strategy appears to have been scrapped now.
The GM Authority Take
Not only are we fans of the simpler name for the small vehicle, we’re also fans of each vehicle carrying a uniform name around the world. Now if only Chevy India would rebrand the Beat as the Spark…
Comments
The article forgets Karl when it mentions Beat disrupting model naming uniformity.
I do agree that when possible all GM models should be uniformly named.
Well, no… the article doesn’t “forget” about the Karl of the Viva. It excludes them on purpose, since those are of an entirely different brand. Meanwhile, Holden has historically been aligned with Chevrolet on a vehicle basis… though the recent intoduction of Opels into the Holden portfolio definitely change that.
Let’s just hope they leave the Barina name and not change it for like Sonic or Aveo or Corsa. Barina is a pretty historical name for Holden.
The Barina name will be going altogether soon, as it’ll be replaced by the Corsa, in Holden’s bid to get back market share after more than ten years of selling rebadged throwaway Daewoos. Cruze is also going to be gone, but hopefully the pile called Craptiva won’t be too far off, either. At the current rate though, once Commodore is gone in 2017, GM might as well pull out of Australia altogether.
Really? When do you think would be when Holden changes from Barina to Corsa, then? I think like late this year to late 2017. And Cruze is ending? I thought it would continue like with Viva and Astra: The Cruze being the budget version, and the Astra being the premium version. And probably the next gen Captiva will be either the Equinox or the Envision.
Are we ever getting the redesigned (Chevy) Spark or is this following all of GM’s 2016 redesigned/all-new cars (except Volt, and the Malibu, which was late enough) in never showing up to dealerships or having a solid on-sale date?? It seems they have flip-flopped GM Australia’s small car strategy so many times in the last 13 years that I can’t keep track. Pick crappy Opel’s or meh Chevy’s. Pick one and make it work! Nice to see Spark/Karl/Viva are all badge-engineered, but too bad none appear stylish, innovative, or available as 3-doors.