Chevrolet Aveo - Aveo To The Fore

With the stylish new Aveo sedan, General Motors are all set to finally put their Opel Corsa legacy behind them. The Aveo is up against equally contemporary and capable cars from Ford and Honda, but this time around, the GM product seems to have what it takes to take on the best...

Story: Sameer Kumar

Let me very honest about this. There aren't really too many cars for which I would want to get up at three in the morning. The Ferrari F355. The R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R. The Evo FQ400, certainly. I mean, what's the point in leaving a warm, cosy bed in the middle of the night if you can't wake up your neighbours with a screaming Italian V8, a power-crazed, twin-turbo inline-six, or a wailing, 400-horsepower inline-four? No such luck for me though. My neighbours continued to sleep in peace even as I hopped on to an early morning flight to Baroda, from where I'd be driving the brand-new Chevrolet Aveo to Ahmedabad and back. Ah, the glamour of motoring journalism. The exotic locales, the fancy cars and the gratis swag. Let's get on with it then.

Excuse my sarcasm but I really do hate it when I don't get my eight hours of sleep in the night. The new Aveo sedan isn't a bad car at all. In fact, it's quite good. And it will almost certainly give a much-needed fillip to GMI's

flagging sales in the C-segment. GM have finally come to terms with the fact that the Opel brand name just isn't working in India and that value-for-money Chevrolet (albeit from the Far East rather than Nor Am) is a much better bet for this country. And hence, exit the Corsa, enter the Aveo, which has been launched in India before it hits the US market. That's a good thing too, if you ask me. The Corsa was a mousy sophomore in her first year at college, with braces in her teeth, square-framed spectacles and a stammer. The Aveo is a Sophia College grad, working her first job with a multi-national bank, armed with a laptop, cell phone and chutzpah. The Aveo will ultimately be sold in more than a hundred countries, and has been engineered ground-up for the specific automotive needs of countries like India and China. Which means it'll be (relatively) cheap to buy and run, reliable, spacious, comfortable, and fuel efficient.

The Aveo has been designed at the Italdesign Giugiaro studio in Italy, and it shows. The car is well proportioned, with short front and rear overhangs, and a wide, sporty stance. The flared wheel arches, boot spoiler and aggressive front end treatment make it stand out - the Aveo makes cars like the Accent, Esteem and the Baleno look positively ancient, and even the Fiesta's styling pales in comparison. Unlike most of the older cars, where the bonnet slopes down sharply to meet a low-ish front bumper, the Aveo's bumper is stacked vertically higher and the bonnet stays much more horizontal, which lends an authoritative stance to the car. The car also has a nicely contoured, high riding waistline and a pert rear - the overall effect is quite pleasing. Visually, the only thing that doesn't work for me is the Aveo's 14-inch wheels. While the 14-inchers may be dynamically sound, 15- or 16-inch wheels would fill out those substantial wheel arches and look so much better.

Source: Car India April 2006.