General Motors has confirmed that the Chevrolet Sonic will officially retire this year. GM Authority was the first to report that the Sonic’s days were numbered last week.
The Chevrolet Sonic is currently produced at the GM Lake Orion plant near Detroit. The plant’s new production capacity will be converted over to produce the up-and-coming Chevrolet Bolt EUV, which is a slightly larger version of the Chevrolet Bolt EV, the latter of which is also produced at the Lake Orion facility. As such, the Orion facility will be focused entirely on all-electric vehicle production. The new Bolt EUV and refreshed Bolt EV will go into production later this year or in early 2021.
2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV
The GM Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly facility in Michigan is also slated to focus solely on all-electric vehicles, which will include the Cruise Origin self-driving taxi, and GMC Hummer EV pickup, among others. Retooling at the plant began in March, with work continuing even amid the first wave of COVID-19 in the U.S.
The Chevrolet Sonic joins a long list of underperforming internal combustion products that have hit the dustbin as GM gears up to release “at least” 20 new EVs by the 2023 calendar year. These include the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, the Chevrolet Impala, and the Chevrolet Cruze.
General Motors says that the decision to discontinue the Chevrolet Sonic was also supported by declining demand. The Sonic was first introduced for the 2012 model year as a replacement for the Aveo. Sonic sales peaked in 2014 with 93,518 units, but quickly took a downturn thereafter, posting 30,290 units in 2017 and 20,613 units in 2018. The Sonic’s weakest sales performance was last year, with just 13,971 units. The U.S. is the Sonic’s last remaining market, and there is currently no replacement planned. That said, it’s possible GM could bring the Chevrolet Onix over for the U.S. and Canadian markets following its best-selling performance in South America.
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Comments
A bit sad but bring on the Onix!.
GM would have to bump up that measly 3/36,000 mile warranty to get people to jump on a clunker like that.
I was just thinking the same. GEM is based on Gamma so could be Federalized. Same with Chinese Encore which is a beautiful design. Both, with minor changes could out class Sonic and their classes.
Hell no
We’ve enjoyed our Sonic. We gave it to our oldest daughter, and at 130k, it still has the original brakes, and has yet to need a major repair with the only repairs being to the cooling system after the car was more than 5 years old and exceeded 100k miles. At 8 years old the paint is starting to fade from the California sun, and the seats have stains from mostly kid spills, otherwise it still looks and runs like a champ.
The 2021 Chevrolet Trailblazer could potentially replace the Sonic with much superior styling.
Only it’s 0-60 time is like 20% slower. It’s under equipped and overpriced. So much competition in the segment and GM comes into it with a 1.3t, laughable. Too many Japanese and Korean cars to list that perform better for the same price or cheaper. Even VW has better deals now with their 0% financing and better standard warranty. I don’t know what happened to GM, but its not a good look. Hopefully they’re just treading water to see what happens with the market.
i didn’t agree witht your comment until i checked the the starting base prices.
the difference is only about 10% but i would’ve guess the sonic was much cheaper.
The base Trailblazer is a 2wd CVT with a 1.2t… that’s a pretty cheap vehicle. In case you’re unfamiliar with what a CVT is, it’s basically a four wheeler transmission, actually a 1.2t is basically four wheeler motor. 🙄 The trailblazer has good bones, but the drivetrains just aren’t up to snuff.
Have you driven one yet? The few reviews i’ve seen is that engine is fine for the vehicle. pretty impressive with the power they are getting out of small engine today.
I have test drove one, but speeds did not exceed 50 mph. It drives fine and the suspension is tuned great. However, the heart of any good vehicle is the motor and trans. The 9spd and 1.3t of my test drive was loud, unrefined, and didn’t inspire much confidence. This is probably the first application for a light duty trans based off the 9T50, It’s kind of hard to find any info about what model of transmission the Trailblazer has.
I get that it is possible to make decent power out of small 3 cylinder engines because Toyota does in with the GRMN. However, the Trailblazer’s reported 174 ft-lbs of torque did not translate well in my test drive. A 3 cylinder engine is fine, if it can perform as well as save production cost. In the case of the Trailblazer it’s just not a competitive offering in its class. In terms of my experience in the segment, which is pretty extensive, the performance of the Trailblazer falls literally at the bottom of the list.
I know I’m going to get a bunch of thumbs down. I really wish I could say that the current Trailblazer was a competitive subcompact+/compact entry, but it’s not. I love GM products, but the performance of the trailblazer is really just at the bottom of it’s class, there’s no other way to say it.
In term’s of reviews and road tests, I really haven’t seen any that aren’t from a GM enthusiast or a GM dealers. So, I expect we’ll see more honest reviews in the coming months.
I feel like declining demand might be a bit misleading because there is always demand in the b/c segment. For example, the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla have both sold of 300k units since 2012. I would say that the demand for such a vehicle is certainly still there. The problem is that sales decrease as the product becomes dated, that doesn’t mean the consumers are not demanding it, just that GM isn’t meeting that demand.
Maybe GM should develop an adequate replacement for the Sonic and Cruze… or they could ask their crosstown rivals at Ford how that all CUV and Truck thing is working out. Seems like Ford’s share price has been on a pretty steady decline since they stopped production of the Focus. What’s funny is looking at long term trends with Ford’s and GM’s stock since 2009. After the bailouts both companies saw massive growth that corresponds directly to when the Fiesta, Focus, Sonic, and Cruze were all modern cutting edge cars.
Why are you combining disparate segments?
The B car segment is declining and is forecasted to decline 50% by 2023 (for ICE vehicles). C car segment is forecasted to drop 35% by 2023, also for ICE.
GM isn’t meeting that demand? I say that’s a good thing. There are more lucrative areas to focus attention than on a shrinking segment / sinking ship.
It’s good business sense. GM focusing its efforts on where customer is going, not where the customer was.
Comparing and combining the b/c segment is logical in my argument because the Sonic is undeniable on the larger size of a b segment vehicle, and the Cruze and Sonic were similarly priced, just similar in general really. I mean it’s fine if that the direction GM wants to go over the next decade, many people will just buy Korean or Japanese cars. However, it’s just my opinion that with out a more competitive b/c segment offering than the trax/ trailblazer GM will lose hundreds of thousands of customers over the next decade. EV’s aren’t going to become wildly popular until it is mandated by law or the tech advances. That’s not happening by 2023.
I like your random made up numbers that you tried to pass off as real data.
I love my 2012 Sonic I am sad it is not being made anymore. I have never seen a commercial on this vehicle. I came upon my Sonic by accident and fell in love with it. I wish I was in a position to get a new one. Sad it is going away
Too bad the Sonic hasn’t sold better. It’s actually a quite good car. But here is a different side to all this.
IMO, a huge part of GM’s problem is that they just don’t stick with anything. Things going well? Great. Keep it until things aren’t going as well. That’s not a winning strategy. Why do both Toyota and Honda keep selling so many Camry’s, Accords, Civics and Corolla’s even though they are not any better than average? It’s not because they are great, it’s because they have name recognition. Consistent. Now look just at Chevy: Cavalier, Cobalt, Cruze and now nothing. Geo, then Chevy Prism, then Nova, then there was Metro, and Aveo, and Spark, and Sonic. Heck, I’m probably missing a few. But just look at how little consistency they have. People can’t keep track and just don’t know what they offer. But they sure know a Civic will be sitting on that lot even if not that good of a product.
So instead of having a (stupid name) Bolt and now bringing another version of that same car, why didn’t they just bring out the Bolt as a redesigned Sonic EV? That’s only an example and maybe not a very good one, but my point should be clear. Many people out there may say that the Cavalier was not a good car. But people move on from stuff and when you bring out a great product, it’s still a great product even if you put a slightly tarnish name on it. Because the Cruze was the third generation of names, it never was able to built or continue to build the sales and now it’s gone. Imagine if the Cavalier name was kept and was placed on better and better products, with name recognition from many year? Good chance sales would have stayed higher and the car kept around. But hey, I’m not getting paid that big money to make all those decisions.
Agreed, domestics overall in the car market constant in the lack of consistency, then act like it’s 1962 in name changes thinking buyers will jump to it. Just bring out one name or series of names for a car class and stick with it. Example: Impala = big Chevy sedan, Colbalt/Cavalier = B segment car..
Yup. In my example I only used Chevy. All GM does it and so does Ford and Chrysler some, but I don’t think as bad as GM. Look at Cadillac: For many years they had DeVille, Fleetwood, Eldorado, and even Seville for some time. Now move to the 90’s and early 2000’s and it’s all gone down hill for sales. Example: Catera into CTS and now into CT5. That’s 3 different names in under 20 years, or about 7 years per name. ATS now CT4. SRX into XT5. The ONLY thing GM has been really consistent with is the trucks and large SUV’s, and look what makes them the most money! Now look at Lexus. If I’m not mistaken, they have had the same main vehicles in the lineup since the start. I’ve already mentioned Honda and Toyota.
What needs to be driven into the minds of those at GM is two simple and very powerful words: Name Recognition!!!
I have a 2018 sonic rs, I love this car although not a power house the milage is awesome. It has ran perfect only issue was the fog lights were staying on which figured out to be something in the fuse box which was replaced under warranty. When I was looking last year finding one was next to impossible, I had an auction guy looking and everyone that came up on the block would start a bidding war, he said the demand must be high. I finally found one on a gm lot with 31.000 km I jumped on it it was not the colour I wanted (sunburst orange)but it looked great in black . I picked the Sonic due to its styling after the redo in 17 and I didn’t like anything the other manufacturers offered
Sad to see this . I LOVE my car ! I purchased it brand new in 2013 . I now have 70,500 miles on it never any issues . Great on fuel comfortable ride . Great price . Sorry to see this happen .
I have 2018 Chevrolet Sonic LT 1.8 lovin it and it safe and fun to drive gas mileage is very good along with performance .
Then it would make sense to bring the Chevy ONIX to the US since production is ending for the Sonic for almost ten years.
The market for electric is still in the making like the Bolt and has a long ways to go and get 350 to 400 miles on a charge.
Run with NO issues at – 10 below zero or above 90 degrees . The Sonic going from the Aveo to Chevy Sonic was very good overall .
I dont agree with the movement away from traditional cars. I dont own a sonic but I always thought they were cool little machines. I have driven them and they are fun! I own a vehicle that GM has chosen to discontinue ( Regal GS ) and i will miss it. I think people want something that has some time spent on it from the engineering department. The style, the materials, the features. Lets not forget reliability. Everyones moving to CVT trannies which are crap. The only manufacturer as of late putting a decent compact out seems to be mazda. Come on GM! Bring back Saturn! Offer a new, updated version of the s series. Put north americans on the map again for building quality, entry level cars.
After GM moves away from the Regal there literally wont be a single offering from them I would want to buy. I would love to remain loyal to the brand, but unless they put a 2.0t or 1.6t into a Trailblazer based platform that will not happen. When my wife went new vehicle shopping 3 years ago, we were forced to purchase a Mazda because of GM’s failure to recognize the demand in the b/c segment. Unfortunately, It’s looking more and more like my next car will be a Mazda or Volkswagen.
As an owner of a 2012 Sonic LTZ Hatchback Turbo, I am sadden by the news but I’m not surprised since GM/Chevrolet stopped advertising for this little car. Even today people who ask me about the car have told me they’ve never heard of a “Sonic.”
One of the main selling points when I ordered it back in 2011 was that it was going to be the only “Made in the USA” subcompact by an American car company. But back then, the paradigm was different. The price of gasoline was much higher and Electric Vehicles were far and few. At least it appears Orion will fill in the gap with another EV so people hopefully won’t lose their jobs.
Anyway, here’s to the Chevrolet Sonic. The last internal combustion engine subcompact automobile Made in the USA!
https://youtu.be/UHDH97epGhU
Wow I never saw this one coming! Rolls eyes. So the clown running GM will give you a clown of a car in the form of the tiny Spark as literally nothing but a 60-80k Corvette will be left in a few years for sedan buyers. Hyundai/Kia and the Asian brands must be sitting with popcorn watching GM and Ford shrink themselves into total irrelevance.
Did someone knows that GM built a Chevy Trax for Brazil with the 1.4L SGE engine (the one for the Cruze rated at 153HP, thus 15+ HP compared to the regular Fam 0 turbo engine for the US with 138HP)? Having developed the hardware to mount the engine in one Gamma vehicle, it was a no-brainer to put it in another gamma vehicle like the Sonic. This combination would have been a blast.
I plan to keep my Sonic for good. My son has begged me to keep it promising that he would take care of it for the years to come.
Sad to see GM killing the best JD Power vehicle.