2012 Chevrolet Spark European Spec

Chevrolet likes to pretend that the Spark is the car you chose. The first hint of its design came as a two-door concept version called Beat, at the 2007 New York auto show. The Beat appeared as part of a trio of concepts, alongside a micro-crossover called Trax and a retro minivan, Groove.The public was invited to vote online as to which of those three concepts should turn be turned into a production car by Chevrolet’s Korean offshoot GM DAT. GM claims 1.9 million votes were cast, the majority in favor of the Beat.

MT asked GM DAT design chief Taewan Kim whether there ever really was a question of ‘the customers choosing’ which car would make it. He snorted an ‘of course not’ grin. “I had to log on and vote many times a day to make sure the result came out right.” It would have been commercial suicide to have let the Trax or Groove win, because the sub-subcompact segment globally is utterly dominated by the hatchback body style.

So in technology and basic architecture, the Spark is your vanilla hatchback. But its execution and design are pretty interesting, and it’s certainly a competent player against price-matched opposition from anywhere around the world. It arrives in the U.S. in 2011 and will be the smallest Chevy ever sold here. Don’t imagine it’s an entrant in the mushrooming supermini class, and specifically don’t confuse it for a Ford Fiesta rival. Oh no, it’s a lot smaller, lighter, and cheaper than that. Chevy’s first serious rival to the Fiesta — and the Fit and Yaris — will be the next-generation Aveo5, due late in 2012.