2015 Los Angeles Auto Show, Extended Coverage

Sometimes, you like a car right away.  I have always liked the Chevy Aveo.  It gets bad reviews in the US and good ones in other countries.  The Spark is the same way.  The Aveo is the Sonic in the US.  At least it's not the Whopper.

LAAS 2013: GM Becomes Honda

Well, almost. Notice how everything in the Chevy Aveo (Sonic in the American market) is accessible and easy to spot. This is a big departure for GM.  Had they been smart enough to get rid of the Chevy emblem, it would have been nearly perfect. As busy as things still are, it is an incredible contrast to the wretched, overwrought interior of the Honda Accord.  Honda put in three sets of screens, along with myriad dials and buttons.  It has been decades since anyone has thought such a thing, but Honda needs to take a lesson from GM and simplify.

Fun Stuff from Mexico

And so, the short series that's too long comes to an end.  This last set of pictures didn't fit in the other categories, but I like it anyway.  First, we have a medium sized Toyota van.  That means it's between the size of a US market minivan and a full sized van from the D3.  From there, we have an Aveo police car from Cholula. It makes me wonder what the police package is like.  In the US, the police version is usually close to what the civilian version should have been.  Can anyone identify the old VW?  I think it might be a Quantum, but the name is unreadable.  I searched and couldn't find anything like it.  I suspect it's Brazilian.  The red box has recently been mentioned in the automotive press.  It's the Hyundai Atos.  I have seen the Mexican market version around for the past few years.  The series closes with a car that's a press darling of the, "If only they sold it here!" variety, the Suzuki Swift!

Chevy Aveo (Sonic)

One way you can tell that GM has never been serious about small cars is that they keep renaming them. While there are new Minis and Bugs and Fiat 500s, no one is talking about a new Vega or Corvair.  There are no longstanding models like the Corolla. 

So it is with the Aveo.  The strange thing is that although it was panned in the US, it got good reviews in other countries. With immigration still running at high levels, this might have given GM pause and caused them not to revert to old habits.  Even in the US, there are probably more satisfied customers than the one I met, who is the only Aveo owner I have talked to so far.  The name remains the same internationally.