New Chevrolet Aveo, Spark offers sportier look

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Diversifying car models and options is perhaps a must in the automotive industry, in order to catch a larger market share as well as to tame the competition.

This strategy was recently employed by PT General Motors Indonesia (GMI), which released the Chevrolet Aveo Sport and Chevrolet Spark Trendy on Aug. 24 -- ahead of the just-concluded second Jakarta Motor Show.

The Chevrolet Spark Trendy city car features a sportier exterior, as well as other new features, providing drivers and passengers with a more convenient and comfortable ride than the Chevrolet Trendy.

Both variants have identical dimensions and use the same 3- cylinder M-TEC engine with a displacement of 796 cc spewing maximum power of 51 horsepower (hp) at 5,900 revolution per minute (rpm) and a maximum torque of 68.6 Newton meter (Nm) at 4,600 rpm. Both variants use 5-speed transmission.

While most technical specifications are the same, a closer look reveals that the Chevrolet Spark Trendy boasts better features at Rp 97.4 million, compared to the "ordinary" Chevrolet Spark offered at Rp 89.9 million.

Spark Trendy is equipped with a fog lamp, full aero kit, side turn lamp and stainless steel tail pipe.

Inside, the "sporty" leather upholstery is matched with leather door trim and boot shift transmission.

As for safety features, both Chevrolet Spark and Chevrolet Spark Trendy come with high mount stop lamps, a laminated windshield, side door impact beams, srengthened "A" pillar, a collapsible steering column and a defogger for the back window.

Both variants also come with 3-point emergency locking retractor (ELR) seat belts for the driver and front passenger. As for rear passengers, two side passengers are protected with 3- point seat belts and a 2-point seat belt for the passenger in the center.

Despite its small size, the Chevrolet Spark can extend its storage capacity from 167 liters to 624 liters by folding the rear seats.

Interested customers can choose from six available color schemes of cyber green, granada black, orange metallic, poly silver, super red and teal blue for the Chevrolet Spark Trendy. Chevrolet Spark offers cobalt blue instead of teal blue.

Similarly, Aveo Sport also comes with full aero kits and a stainless steel tail pipe. An additional detail is the cutting sticker on the rear doors.

Chevrolet Aveo is powered by a 4-cylinder, 1,498 cc E-TEC II engine with single overhead camshaft (SOHC) technology generating a maximum power of 86 hp at 5,600 rpm and a maximum torque of 128 Nm at 3,000 rpm.

Unlike Spark, which comes only with manual transmission, Chevy fans have the option to choose four-speed automatic transmission.

The manual variant of Aveo is offered for Rp 130.3 million and the automatic variant is tagged at Rp 140.3 million. Meanwhile, manual Aveo Sport is priced at Rp 134.3 million and Rp 144.8 million for the automatic transmission.

Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro of ItalDesign, Chevrolet Aveo comes with remote keyless entry and daytime running lamps and has a total luggage capacity of 735 liters with the rear seats folded.

Chevrolet Aveo and Aveo Sport have similar safety features to those installed in Chevrolet Spark and Spark Trendy, apart from its higher monocoque steel construction of 41 percent compared to the latter's 36 percent.

There are four color schemes of active red, dove silver, pearl black and sports blue for Chevrolet Aveo. Aveo Sport offers pastel blue instead of sports blue.