Chevy Spark to Debut as Holden Barina Spark at Sydney Motor Show

GM is gearing up for the Australian launch of the new Chevrolet Spark, which has been on sale in Asia and Europe for some months now. The first step towards its local launch is an appearance at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney next week, before it goes on sale locally as the Holden Barina Spark in late 2010.

Oddly enough, Holden sells the first-gen Chevrolet Aveo as the Holden Barina with a range consisting of three- and five-door hatchbacks and a four-door sedan. The Barina Spark will most likely be slotted in as an affordable entry level model.

The Barina Spark is equipped with a 1.2-liter 4-cylinder petrol engine and a 5-speed manual transmission, with fuel economy said to be around the 5.6lt / 100 km (42 US mpg) mark. Standard equipment will include alloy wheels, fog lamps, six airbags and Electronic Stability Control (ESC).

John Elsworth, Director of Sales, Marketing and Aftersales at Holden has great confidence in the Barina Spark:

"This is a very style-conscious market and with Barina Spark we have a really fresh and energetic design that breaks the 'cute car' mould. It's fun, fuel efficient and offers class-leading safety features and value for money in the best Holden tradition."

Pricing and detailed specifications will be released at the Sydney Show, which runs from the 15th to the 24th ofOctober. The U.S. launch of the Chevrolet Spark is set for 2012.

By Tristan Hankins

GM to Build New Small Car at Idle U.S. Plant and Not China

Faced with heavy criticism after it was revealed that it was planning to increase vehicle imports from lower-wage economies such as Mexico and China, General Motors announced on Friday plans to build a future small car in the U.S. utilizing an idled UAW-GM facility. The automaker's vague press release does not give out any details on the car (though everything points towards the 2011 Chevy Spark) nor the location of the plant with GM saying that the selection of the site "will be determined in the future". However, the carmaker did note that the re-tooled factory will be capable of building around 160,000 cars annually, which can be a combination of both small and compact vehicles.

According to General Motors, the introduction of the small car will boost the company's percentage of U.S.-built cars and trucks sold in the States from about 67 percent today, to beyond 70 percent by 2013.

"Small cars represent one of the fastest growing segments in both the U.S. and around the world," said Fritz Henderson, General Motors President and CEO. "We believe this car will be a winner with our current and future customers in the U.S."

"I would like to personally thank the UAW for agreeing to work with us to ensure our overall manufacturing competitiveness in the United States. It takes a special effort by everyone to bring a domestically produced small car to market in a cost-competitive and profitable way - but that is what we are going to do together," Henderson added.

Exclusive footage from Transformers 2 with all Chevy Autobots, Including Corvette and Volt

Since General Motors is investing heavily on the upcoming Transformers 2 movie, 'Revenge of the Fallen' with five Chevrolet-based characters taking roles as Autobots, it doesn't surprise us at all that the automaker managed to secure exclusive footage of the film edited by director Michael Bay. The video that follows contains scenes with all five Chevy-bots, including SIDESWIPE (Corvette Stingray concept), SKIDS and MUDFLAP (based on Chevy's Beat and Trax concepts), JOLT (Volt) and of course, BUMBLEBEE (Camaro SS).

Video: 2010 Chevrolet Spark Walk Around

Dave Lyon, director of GM Design, walks us around the all-new Chevrolet Spark minicar that makes its world premiere at the Geneva Auto show in March 2009. When the Spark hits European showrooms later this year replacing the Matiz in Chevy's range, it will be offered with 1.0-liter and 1.2-liter petrol engines. Sales in the U.S. and other major markets will follow in 2011. Click here for more photos and details or hit the jump to watch the video.

2010 Chevrolet Spark - New Official Photos and Details Released

Next month's Geneva Show will see the world debut of the 2010 Chevrolet Spark which is set to go on sale in Europe towards the end of the year with the U.S.A and other core international markets following suite in 2011. Due to replace the Matiz in the 'Old Continent', the Spark was inspired by the Chevy Beat 3d concept, the most popular of a trio of mini-car concepts that were revealed back in 2007.

Even though the production Spark comes with a five-door body style, it retains all of the concept's styling cues adding a few more interesting details such as the 'hidden' rear door handles. With an overall length of 3,640 mm and a 2,375 mm wheelbase, the Spark is slightly larger than Fiat's A-Segment Panda that measures 3,538 mm in length.

The design of Spark's interior continues the funky exterior theme with a swoopy dashboard and a motorcycle-inspired instrument cluster that is mounted on the on the steering column.

In Europe, power will come from a choice of 1.0 and 1.2-litre 16-valve four-cylinder gasoline engines with GM promising that they will deliver "excellent fuel efficiency and low emissions."

Depending on global markets, the Spark's safety equipment will include driver and passenger front air bags, front side airbags, roof rail head curtain airbags, antilock brakes and electronic stability control. Prices and exact equipment specifications are be announced closer to the car's on sale date.