Not to be confused with the old Pontiac Montana, the Chevy Montana of today is a compact pickup truck with unibody construction sold in international markets. It’s popular in South American countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Ecuador, and it’s also available in Mexico.
Having just entered its third generation in 2023, the Montana has now undergone the latest crash testing by the Latin NCAP (New Car Assessment Program). Although the Chinese-built Chevy Groove just got rather miserable results in the same tests, with a zero-star rating, the Chevy Montana sets its segment’s benchmark with a three-star overall rating. It performed especially well in the important Adult Occupant and Child Occupant criteria of the test.
Although it sets the benchmark for its class, Latin NCAP says the Montana could’ve received an even better score if GM had decided to put the rear-seat dummies in rear-facing restraints rather than forward-facing. Also, the Chevy Montana lacks modern active safety tech features; automatic emergency braking isn’t even optional. Offering such features would’ve boosted its already impressive score.
“Chevrolet becomes again the benchmark in a popular segment, small pickups, showing good protection in comparison to the low score of its direct competitor, the Fiat Strada,” Latin NCAP Secretary General Alehandro Furas said in a statement. “We hope that Chevrolet re-considers its child occupant protection ADAS (advanced driver-assistance system) strategies as in our understanding that this car can perform better and achieve even higher star ratings.”
Latin NCAP Chairman Stephan Brodziak also believes the Chevy Montana could’ve performed better. “Regarding the Chevrolet Montana, although it is a result that indicates good passive protection for its occupants, the decision to put both child dummies rearward facing is critical, we know that it can still achieve better protection performance if driving assistance technologies are added, particularly Autonomous Emergency Braking,” Brodziak said. “We invite Chevrolet to continue with these results and to set itself the goal of standardizing ADAS to improve the protection of its consumers and other road users in our region.”
The Chevy Montana rides on the VSS-F platform that’s also found under the Chevy Trax and Chevy Trailblazer as well as the Buick Envista and Buick Encore GX, and is powered by GM’s turbocharged 1.2L I3 L4H engine. Despite this little pickup’s similarities to vehicles already sold in the U.S., Americanizing the Chevy Montana to compete with the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz in its home market would be challenging for a number of reasons.
Comments
We need something like this in the U.S. The Colorado has gotten bigger, and the Maverick and Santa Cruz are doing well in Florida.
I’d be interested in one of sold in US. Mary will never let that happen.
True, but you can have any 2-box CUV you want!
There should be minimal mods to sell this in north america. It’s proven already that it has the structure to pass NA testing. Bring it in or , Mary Barra, in all her wisdom, should have converted the Lordstown plant to produce something like this. Why is GM’s direction for the future so stupid? Answer: Mary Barra.
66 year old friend of mine ( Works in parts warehouse for JIT parts for leading RV manufacturer) just bought his first non Chevy vehicle for nearing retirement years, a new Maverick. Out the door for less than $30k. He hated it but even a Colorado WT with very few options was going to be about $36k, if he could have found one. Said the Maverick was all he needed for fishing & errands around town. But gm doesn’t need this market.