Chevrolet displayed the all-new 2012 Sonic at the 2011 North American International Auto Show. Its youthful, aggressive design is backed by turbocharged performance and agile ride and handling, combining to deliver an efficient, fun-to-drive small car.

The Chevrolet Sonic is offered in two body styles: a stylish four-door sedan and a sporty five-door. Each delivers class-leading rear-seat roominess and cargo space. A variety of connectivity features enhance the driving experience.

"The all-new Chevrolet Sonic blends the practicality of a small car with the passion for driving that Chevrolet vehicles like the Corvette are known for," said Chris Perry, vice president of Chevrolet marketing. "Its combination of great design, fun driving experience and the latest connectivity features create a serious competitor with a fun spirit."

Production of the Chevrolet Sonic begins later in 2011 at the General Motors Orion Assembly Center in Michigan, which received a $545-million investment in upgrades and retooling, and will help restore approximately 1,000 jobs in the metropolitan Detroit area.

"Chevrolet is the only company building a small car in the United States," said Perry. "We believe the Sonic will bring substance to the segment, with progressive styling, performance and value that will change perceptions of what a small car can be in America."

Progressive exterior design

From every angle, Chevrolet Sonic sedan and five-door models convey strength, stability and refinement. A wide, planted stance, with wheels-at-the-corners proportions, conveys performance. Progressive, raked body lines suggest movement even when the car is stationary.

Aggressive cues, including fender flares and motorcycle-inspired round headlamps, are blended with global design cues - a dual-element grille and round taillamps - for a design instantly recognizable as Chevrolet. The leading edge of the hood forms a character line above the headlamps, which flows in a sleek side profile characterized by uninterrupted body side lines, a high beltline and low roofline. The side mirrors carry the same shape as the car and seemingly disappear into the profile.

The sedan and five-door models are distinctively different. The five-door carries a tight, two-box shape with aggressive, diving feature lines, while the sedan's "notchback" profile has a more upscale and mature presence. At first glance, the five-door model looks like a three-door hatch because the rear door handles are discreetly located in the "C"-pillar area. The rear of the five-door continues with unconventional details, including exposed, motorcycle-inspired rear taillamps.

Details that reinforce Chevrolet Sonic's quality and attention to detail include chrome grille surrounds and matte black honeycomb grille inserts on all models, while a range of large wheel sizes, including 17-inch alloy wheels, reinforces its sporty demeanor.

Inspired interior

Chevrolet Sonic's cabin complements the motorcycle-inspired exterior with a detailed instrument cluster featuring a large, round analog tachometer set within an asymmetrical LCD readout, with a large digital speedometer display.

Additional interior highlights include:

• The mid-instrument panel surface is available in two colors (dark titanium and brick) and flows seamlessly into the upper doors, with premium low-glass finishes
• The automatic shift knob has a "cobra head" design," while the manual shifter has a chrome-finished knob
• Tubular outboard climate outlets protrude from the instrument panel surface.
• The interior includes storage compartments in the center stack and doors. The rear seats fold flat for carrying larger items. Front bucket seats are standard and heated front seats are available.

Cruze-based powertrains

Chevrolet Sonic models are powered by efficient, power-dense, small-displacement engines, including the Ecotec 1.4L turbo and the Ecotec 1.8L - the same engines used in the new Chevrolet Cruze. Three transmissions are available: a five-speed manual and six-speed automatic with the 1.8L and a six-speed manual with the 1.4L turbo.

The Ecotec 1.4L turbo's power ratings are estimated at 138 horsepower (103 kW) and 148 lb.-ft. of torque (200 Nm) between 1,850 rpm and 4,900 rpm. The wide rpm range for the maximum torque - a specific trait of turbocharged engines - helps the engine deliver a better driving experience and performance. Premium design elements give the engine world-class smoothness and durability. Features include:

• Low-mass hollow-frame cast iron block
• Dual overhead camshafts with variable valve timing
• Chain-driven cams
• Roller-finger camshaft followers
• Piston-cooling oil jets and integrated oil cooler
• Variable-flow oil pump
• Electronically controlled thermostat.
• The 1.4L's turbocharger is integrated within the exhaust manifold, for reduced weight and greater packaging flexibility in small vehicles. A reinforced crankshaft and stronger connecting rods deliver additional strength to support the engine's pressurized power and torque over a wide rpm band.

The naturally aspirated Ecotec 1.8L engine has many of the same features of the Ecotec 1.4L turbo. It is a compact and durable four-cylinder engine designed for low maintenance, low emissions and fuel efficiency. Its two-stage variable intake manifold allows approximately 90 percent of peak torque to be available from 2,400 rpm to 6,500 rpm. It is estimated at 135 horsepower (101 kW), along with 123 lb.-ft. of torque (167 Nm) at 3,800 rpm.

Engineered for agile, athletic ride and handling

The Chevrolet Sonic brings agility and a fun-to-drive feel that is rare in the segment. Engineers who also work on the Corvette tuned the Sonic's confident ride and handling, giving it a more direct and athletic feel, while balancing the vehicle for the broad range of driving conditions in North America.

All models feature a MacPherson strut front suspension with coil springs and stabilizer bar, and a semi-independent, torsion beam axle-mount compound link-type rear suspension - featuring a robust, tubular V-shape beam - with gas-charged shocks. The front and rear tracks are identical at 59.4 inches (1,509 mm), for well-planted stability and excellent balance.

Electronic power steering is standard and features a wear compensator that continually adjusts the system interaction with the steering gear to ensure precise steering action over the life of the system.

Chevrolet Sonic's body structure is designed to be one of the stiffest in the segment. Its rigidity enabled engineers to tune the ride and handling more precisely. Chevrolet Sonic's unique "flat top frame" cradle, for example, assures optimal stiffness in the front chassis portion of the vehicle. The rear axle is essentially a straight axle without contour for packaging restraints and reduced noise, vibration and harshness.

A range of wheel sizes is available, including 17-inch wheels and sport tires. Power-assisted front disc and rear drum brakes are standard, along with a four-channel antilock braking system. The four-sensor system - one at each wheel - incorporates electronic brake force distribution, which balances braking performance based on such factors as road conditions and the weight of passengers and/or cargo.

GM announced today that the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic subcompact due this fall will start at $14,495 plus shipping for the base LS sedan.

The base hatchback LS will be $15,395-plus and the better-equipped LT trim will start at $15,565 for the sedan and $16,495 for the hatch. The top-of-the-line LTZ models will start at $17,295 and $17,995.

It is expected to be rated at least 40 mpg on the highway.

The Sonic replaces the South Korean-built Aveo in the Chevy lineup and will be built at GM's Orion plant in Michigan. It's designed to be a global product and a Korean-built version is already on sale there, still as the Aveo. The new Sonic name was created for North America.

Sonic's being built here under terms of GM's bankruptcy deal with the government, which called for the company to build the U.S. a small car rated at least 40 mpg on the highway and for the UAW to make certain wage concession to help make a U.S.-built subcompact profitable.

The base Sonic LS still will come with some more upscale features, including standard 15-inch alloy wheels (no ugly plastic fake-wheel hubcaps -- others take note!!!), 10 air bags, power door locks with remote and a six-month OnStar subscription.

Moving up to the LT adds a six-speaker sound system, power windows and heated mirroes

And the LTZ will include a connectivity package with a USB port; 17-inch allow wheels, Bluetooth for select phones and music, steering-wheel-mounted audio controls, heated leatherette front seats, cruise control and fog lamps.

Chevrolet's new small Sonic subcompact is going to be able to join the 40-mile-per-gallon club, but only with a pricier, turbocharged version.

Despite GM's earlier claims of a 40-mpg rating for the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, the standard 135-horsepower, 1.8-liter four-cylinder will be rated by the EPA at 26 miles a gallon on the highway and 35 mpg on the highway, for a combined 29 mpg with a five-speed manual transmission. With an optional six-speed automatic transmission, the 1.8-liter returns 25 city/35 highway/28 combined mpg.

The only way to get 40 mpg on the highway is to opt for the 138-horsepower, turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder, which comes with a six-speed manual transmission only. The engine is a $700 option for the higher level LT and LTZ trims. The Sonics are starting to boom their way into dealers: Cars.com shows more than 500 Sonics available, but none are equipped with the turbocharged motor just yet.

The Sonic's EPA rating is a disappointment compared with its competitors and even against its larger sibling, the Cruze:

A 2012 Chevrolet Cruze equipped with the same 1.8-liter four-cylinder and a six-speed manual transmission gets 25 city/36 highway/29 combined mpg. The Cruze Eco with an automatic transmission gets a 26 city/39 highway and 31 mpg combined. The fact that the lighter-weight Sonic scores no better than a Cruze is probably due to aerodynamics.

Competitors like the 2012 Hyundai Accent (30 city/40 highway mpg), 2012 Ford Fiesta SFE (29 city/40 highway mpg), 2012 Toyota Yaris (30 city/35 highway mpg) and 2012 Honda Fit (28 city/35 highway mpg) all score better. To add insult to injury, the Sonic scores worse, or no better, than the outgoing 2011 Chevy Aveo, which got 27 in the city and 35 on the highway for a 30 mpg combined with a manual transmission and a combined 28 mpg with a four-speed automatic transmission.

We don't know if GM plans on releasing an Eco version of the Sonic, which would help it compete with other fuel misers. For now, the model will likely try to compete on price since it's behind the field on mileage.

The 2012 Chevy Sonic went on sale earlier this month.

Sonic Z-Spec #1 – Designers took a turbocharged Sonic five-door and dressed it with concept Z-Spec accessories. They added Z-Spec ground effects, a spoiler, unique grille and graphics package – then finished it off with a Torch Red exterior and Z-Spec concept 18-inch wheels. Inside, the Cobalt Red cabin features custom trim, including perforated black suede seat inserts, a Z-Spec sport pedal kit, sport shift knob and a racing-style flat-bottom steering wheel. Additional upgrades include performance brakes with four-piston calipers, a new high-flow exhaust system and performance suspension parts.

Sonic Z-Spec #2 – The next Sonic concept – in Flat White with Torch Red accents – builds on concept Z-Spec accessories with a more aggressive ground effects package, unique grille, rear spoiler and graphics package. It rides on Z-Spec concept 18-inch wheels and also includes a re-trimmed interior with Z-Spec sport pedal kit, Z-Spec sport shift knob and a flat-bottom steering wheel. It also features custom racing seats with the Z-Spec logo. The factory powertrain features the 1.4L turbo engine and six-speed manual transmission. Performance upgrades include brakes with four-piston calipers, a high-flow exhaust system and suspension parts.

GM to Kill Chevrolet Sonic Subcompact Car

Ford to end U.S. sales of Fiesta and Taurus amid Detroit’s broader exodus from passenger cars

April 4, 2018

General Motors Co. will end production of the Chevrolet Sonic subcompact car as early as this year, according to people familiar with the matter, part of a broader push by Detroit auto executives to abandon low-margin cars in favor of sport-utility vehicles.

Long thought to be necessary for combating Japanese rivals and catering to budget-minded or young customers, passenger cars have fallen out of favor amid low gasoline prices and efficiency improvements in SUVs. With the Trump administration planning to roll back fuel-economy standards, other domestic nameplates will likely join the Sonic in the scrapheap.

GM, for instance, is also considering discontinuing the Chevy Impala large car in the next few years, these people said, a decision that would kill a 61-year-old car line. Ford Motor Co., meanwhile, plans to stop building the Fiesta small car for the U.S. market within the next year, and discontinue the Taurus large sedan, according to people briefed on the plans.

Executives are still considering the future of the bread-and-butter Ford Fusion, once billed as an answer to the Honda Accord or Toyota Camry, these people said.

The strategy is lucrative but risky.

While U.S. auto makers have long earned the bulk of their profits from pickup trucks and SUVs, GM, Ford and Chrysler have suffered when gasoline prices spike and dealers are left with a stale or limited selection of fuel-efficient offerings. Toyota Motor Corp. , Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. have laid out investments to keep vehicles such as the Civic and Altima fresh even as demand wanes.

GM will continue to sell a smaller collection of passenger cars, including a compact Chevy built in Ohio and an electric car built in the Michigan factory that also assembles the Sonic. Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, meanwhile, are considering far more aggressive pullbacks from passenger cars due to the success of Jeep or the F-150 truck.

Fiat Chrysler took the first step in killing off small cars, discontinuing the 200 sedan and Dart compact a few years ago to free up money for pickup and SUV production. The auto maker is now reporting record profits and may be considering an end to larger cars, including the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger, within a few years.

The death of the Sonic is as symbolic as it is strategic. The car went on sale in 2011, and it was heralded as a hit due to its features, which included heated seats and other extras not seen on cheap small cars. Chevy sold nearly 100,000 Sonics in 2014, far more than previous models, but deliveries dwindled to about 30,000 last year.

The Sonic is built at the Orion Assembly plant in suburban Detroit, which was saved from closure during GM’s 2009 bankruptcy through a $1 billion lifeline of grants and tax incentives from the state of Michigan, local municipalities and the federal government. Seen as a small-car plant preserved largely by the Obama administration, it was refurbished to represent the Motor City’s renewed commitment to small and efficient automobiles.

The plant, however, produces about one-quarter the number of vehicles that one of GM’s busy truck factories make.

GM laid off thousands of factory workers last year as it scrambled to adjust car production with lower-than-expected demand.

The company sees consumer preference for SUVs over cars as “largely permanent” and is assessing “how we best deploy assets in critical passenger-car segments to ensure we’re getting a return,” GM finance chief Chuck Stevens told analysts last year.

Ford is also shifting. It recently put on sale the EcoSport small crossover SUV in the U.S. at a starting price of $20,000—almost $6,000 more than the Fiesta with which it shares an underbody.

“The EcoSport is basically the same vehicle and they can charge several thousand dollars more for it,” said George Waikem II, who manages Nissan, Kia and Ford dealerships in northeast Ohio. Small cars, like the Fiesta, he said, are “definitely on an island that is sinking.”

Sedans, coupes and other car categories accounted for 37% of U.S. sales last year, down from 51% in 2012. This has executives even outside Detroit considering how to respond.

It is a consumer shift “we really haven’t seen before,” Toyota U.S. sales chief Bill Fay said at an industry conference in New York last week. Another Toyota executive forecast the sale of cars shrinking to 30% of the market in the near future, and said the Japanese auto maker may need to expand its SUV lineup.

Chevrolet is gradually plucking sedans and hatchbacks from its American range. It quietly confirmed it will soon end production of the 2020 Chevy Sonic, one of its most affordable cars, in order to free up production capacity to build an EV.

Ford ruffled more than a few feathers when it trumpeted its plans to pivot away from sedans and hatchbacks in 2018. Chevrolet is following the exact same path, but it's taking a more subtle approach. Sonic production will end in October 2020, a spokesperson told CNBC, and the Detroit-area Orion Assembly factory that makes it will be retooled to manufacture a Bolt-based electric crossover tentatively called Bolt EUV. It's due out in 2021.

Chevrolet explained it's putting the Sonic out to pasture without a replacement in sight "due to declining demand," and its decision is hardly surprising. Demand for small cars -- especially hatchbacks -- collapsed during the second half of the 2010s. CNBC pointed out the company sold about 100,000 examples of the Sonic in 2014, yet it only managed to move 13,971 units off dealer lots in 2019. To put that figure into perspective, the Sonic was outsold by the Bolt (16,418 units), the Corvette (17,988 units), and the ancient Express van (77,457 units). Combine the Sonic's poor sales with Chevrolet offering two similarly sized crossovers, the Trax and the Trailblazer, and it's easy to see why the company is letting the model die off.

With the Impala out of the way and the Sonic on death row, Chevrolet's range will include a single sedan, the Malibu, and one hatchback, the Spark. Neither are long for this world. Insiders suggest the ax will fall on the Malibu at the end of the 2023 model year, meaning about halfway through 2022. That's two years earlier than expected. Details about the Spark's future remain murky, but we wouldn't bet on seeing a next-generation model.

Sister company Buick is binning its sedans, too; it confirmed it will stop selling the Regal at the end of the 2020 model year. Cadillac is the only General Motors-owned brand that remains firmly committed to the body style.