Chevy Unveils a Trio of Minicar Concepts
March 29, 2007

General Motors’ Chevrolet division will unveil a trio of minicars at the New York auto show next Wednesday. The automaker has released a photo of one of the three, one called the Chevrolet Trax.

By unveiling the minicars in New York and allowing visitors to vote for their favorite of the three on www.vote4chevrolet.com, GM certainly is exploring the minicar segment in North America, where it has no such offering at the moment. However, the minicars are more important for world markets, where Chevrolet is vastly increasing its presence and sales.

The minicar unveilings are also intended to further emphasize the message GM has been trying to get across; that is, it is a global company with global design and manufacturing capabilities, resources it is leveraging across the world.

The three concepts were designed at GM’ s Design Studio in Incheon, South Korea, formerly Daewoo’s design center and is one of GM’s 11 Global Design Studios. The minicars are based on GM’s global mini architecture “to demonstrate the flexibility, creativity and innovative focus of design in GM’s Asia Pacific region,” GM’s statement on the cars said.

“These concepts highlight the strength and diversity of GM’s Global Design capabilities, as well as the ability of our Global Product Development team to anticipate and quickly meet the evolving needs of our diverse markets around the world,” said Ed Welburn, vice president, GM Global Design.

The four-door Trax is powered by a 1.0-liter gasoline engine. The upper part of the exterior is bathed in Blaze Orange, while lower corner panels sport a Burnt Orange matte finish. GM is experimenting with matte finishes for its paints. The Opel concept unveiled in Geneva earlier this month, featured a matte finish.

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