After a surprising and unusual revelation in mid-May in China, the all-new Chevrolet Groove will arrive in South America very soon – the first region to receive the vehicle. After the initial assembly of a small batch of units, GM Authority has learned that the series production of this Chevrolet-rebadged Baojun 510 officially started on June 17 and General Motors is preparing its imminent international debut.
The new Chevrolet Groove, whose project code is CN180S, will become the brand’s smallest crossover and will gradually be exported to some 40 countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and other regions. Like the new Captiva – a rebadged Baojun 530 – the Groove will round out Chevrolet’s utility portfolio in some emerging markets as the most affordable model below the all-new Tracker.
As SAIC-GM-Wuling announced when it first showed the vehicle, exports of the Chevrolet Groove kicked off late last month, with the shipment of the first units for launch in South America. Due to the restrictions generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not yet clear in which country the new Groove will be initially launched.
First released in 2017, the Baojun 510 was developed from the outset as a global vehicle and is one of the most popular models in its segment in China – where it recently topped its first million units sold. GM’s joint venture in the Asian country only made minor aesthetic adjustments to adapt it to Chevrolet’s corporate image, including the inclusion of the horizontal three-bar grille.
Although not yet officially announced, the Chevrolet Groove must be equipped with a naturally aspirated 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine that develops 105 horsepower and 100 pound-feet of torque. The engine can be combined with six-speed manual or automatic transmissions. This simple powertrain has a good reputation in the Chinese market for its high reliability and low maintenance costs.
All the details of the new Chevrolet Groove will be revealed shortly, when its international debut in South America materializes. SAIC-GM-Wuling has said it expects to ship around 10,000 units in the Groove’s first year on sale, a number that will increase as the utility vehicle begins its gradual rollout in the aforementioned emerging markets.
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Comments
Baojun again? Where is the “Real” from GM Daewoo?
How about an actual Real Chevy instead of a fake badge engineered model. They used to make those!
Baojun…… huh
Bring it to the U.S. and all its territories! It will compete against Ford’s Eco Sport and all the small CUVs from the foreign brands. The Chevy Captiva is famous here where I live ( I saw one yesterday) as a smaller brother to the Equinox, but there should be more GM products.
Probably would not pass safety for equip ent needed and crash tests.
Nor emissions, and given the increase in weight of Americans, larger families than Chinese +higher speed highways, you would burn out the motor at 60000 miles and the springs at 80000. Be cheaper to buy a Malibu in the long run.
I’m not against it. GM spends a lot on R&D and Groove will sell well in developing markets.
Chevy India, a over1 billion person market, needed a well considered high quality line up identical to Brazil plus a few First World offerings. Had GM done this they would not have needed to quit the market.
The new TrailBlazer competes with the Eco Sport.
Bring the Chevy Groove to the U.S. to compete against the Ford Eco Sport and against all the imports.
A rumor I am trying to start says that Chevrolet has applied to the US Copyright authorities to use the name “700” for an as-yet unannounced new vehicle. The number is to commemorate the 700th new model name given to Chevrolet vehicles. Bel Air, Biscayne, Impala, Groove, Cruze, Del Ray ,Nomad, Breenbriar, (inhale….) Corvair, 210, Sport Special, Monza (not the Corvair model; the car), Beretta, Corsica, Vega, Aveo, Blazer, Bolt, Trailblazer, Caprice, Tahoe, Suburban, Malibu Monza, Orlando, Spin, Luv, Silverado, Apache, Kodiak….
>>Although not yet officially announced, the Chevrolet Groove must be equipped with a naturally aspirated 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine that develops 105 horsepower and 100 pound-feet of torque.<<
Baojun 560 has a turbocharged STEC-III 1.5L four cylinder engine, derived from the engine in the old Geo Metro. They originally came with the 1.8L Family I ZX engine from the Astra/Cruze.
I don't think either would comply with current US EC regulations. The Captiva had to be downpowered to comply with the Euro 2 standards in Thailand.