No Beat, but Chevy plans to bring Groove or Trax to U.S. by 2011

While it has been announced that the Chevy Beat supcompact will not be coming to North America, Monday's reports have one of the two other small cars GM unveiled in concept form at the 2007 New York Auto Show coming to the U.S. market. One of the two concepts, the Trax or Groove, will replace the current Aveo hatchback by 2011.



"Of the triplets, we will get one of those variants," Chevrolet's vice president, Ed Peper, said in an Automotive News interview. Peper went on to say that the production car will be similar to the concept, although certain areas will need to be made bigger in order to meet U.S. crash safety standards.

Whichever concept makes it to showrooms, it will be based on the automaker's Gamma global platform -- versions of which underpin the Opel / Vauxhall Corsa in Europe and will be used in the Alfa Romeo MiTo -- and most likely be assembled at the San Luis Potosi, Mexico plant. The concept cars were both powered by 1.0-liter engines, with a diesel in the Groove and a gas engine in the Trax. The Groove is front wheel drive, while the Trax featured an all-wheel drive system, suggesting the production car may have such an option. If so, it could be the smallest vehicle to offer such an option next to the Suzuki SX4.

Chevy Groove concept