Chevrolet has introduced a new car called Sonic in Brazil. Although it shares the name with the affordable sedan and hatchback for emerging markets, it’s actually a crossover closely related to the Chevrolet Onix.
Buyers will be choosing from two main trim variants called Premier and RS. The former features an urban-style radiator grille with chromed horizontal bars and silver-spoked wheels in the arches. The RS stands apart with a honeycomb grille and black exterior accents throughout. Both have stacked headlights, a rugged plastic body kit and sporty outlines.
The whole car measures 4,230 mm long, 1,770 mm wide and 1,530 mm tall with 2,550 mm between the axles (inches: 166.5L x 69.7W x 60.2H and 100.4WB). The trunk area starts at 392 liters (13.84 cubic feet) with all seats up.
A single look at the interior is enough to see that it was borrowed from the Onix without major changes. There’s an 8-inch digital dash display, an 11-inch main touchscreen and a traditional, round, three-spoke steering wheel. Options include atmospheric lighting and assorted electronic assists like blind spot monitoring, AEB, and road markup recognition. The RS version exclusively gets a self-parking feature.
Regardless of your other choices, the new Chevrolet Sonic for South America comes equipped with a turbocharged 1.0-liter, three-cylinder engine rated at 115 PS (113 hp / 85 kW). A six-speed automatic transmission sends the torque to the front wheels. The Premier trim is already available starting from just under 130,000 Brazilian Real (U.S. $26,400), and the RS version starts 6,000 Real ($1,220) above that.