Another contributing factor is that across the range they offer of a 5yr warranty and a 3 years fixed price servicing package covering 30,000 miles, the latter costing £349 (except on Captiva which costs £449). Additional to that is sheer value for money Chevrolet really do offer superb value for money. For instance the New Aveo features as standard 15″ Steel Wheels, Cruise control with speed limiter, Electronic stability control (ESC), Hill Start Assist, Anti-Lock Braking System, Traction Control,Air Conditioning, for a starting price of £8995 WOW is my response. Considering this is a so called base model, if we compare to a base model fiesta which costs £9495, you don’t even get electric windows never mind Air con and Cruise control.

So where Can Chevrolet Go from here? Well with the launch of the New Aveo and UK spec Camaro earlier this month we should see yet more sales growth. And with the imminent launch of another two new models this year, the Chevrolet Cruze Station Wagon, and the Chevrolet Aveo SUV 2012 could be a very exciting year for Chevrolet.

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Camaro starts from £34,995.00 with both the Coupe and the cabriolet featuring:
20″ midnight silver painted alloys
6.2 litre V8 engine
432PS, 596 NM of torque
6 speed transmission
Cruze control        
Brembo performance brakes
Head-Up Display
Full leather upholstery
Boston Acoustics 9-speaker premium audio system
Rear park assist & rear view camera

The Cabriolet (Shown Above) will add a folding roof which can retract in under 20 seconds, so you can savour a glorious V8 Growl and the wind in your hair.

Full details for Camaro are available on www.chevrolet.co.uk/cars/camaro and also through facebook where you can register your interest and receive details www.facebook.com/chevroletuk?sk=app_310198785682370

Chevrolet Entered the championship in a privately run package in 2009 with RML in Ex World Touring Car Chevrolet Lacettis, which RML were Running for Chevrolet in World Touring Cars. Jason Plato Came on Board as lead driver, after Seat Sports own shock decision to withdraw from BTCC, at the end of 2008 season. During the 2009 Season Plato Managed 8 wins in the lacetti, results which persuaded Chevrolet to enter a full supported package in 2010, running Two of the new Chevrolet Cruze cars, which again had been used in the World Touring Cars the season before.

The 2010 Season resulted in Plato Being crowned Drivers Champion at the final meeting of the year Brands Hatch, and Cap off a wonderful year were Plato took 7 wins, and 8 fastest laps in the season.

2011 was always going to be a difficult year in the BTCC as its better known, with the championship going through some massive changes involving the type of cars you can use. Currently Chevrolet used a Normally aspirated 2.0L engine in BTCC. But with the New rules brought in to keep the sports cost down, it was permitted to Run 2.0L turbo engines. Most of the other teams opted for the New Turbo power plant, which had a massive advantage over the Chevrolet. Even though the cruze was fantastic in the corners, the difference in speed on a straight was too much of a gap to close. Before the 2011 season the Team Were Promised there was to be parity between the Turbo cars and the Normally aspirated cars, as there was a transition period between the two specs. Although there were changes made during the course of the year the Chevrolet never really stood a chance against the turbo cars. Still with that Plato still managed to finish Third in the Championship and took 8 wins.

It was always going to be difficult for Chevrolet to enter the New BTCC season as World touring cars also had a change of car specification in 2011, which couldn’t be used in BTCC. So the only way they could enter the 2012 season was to develop a completely new car, based on the new turbo spec.

RML and Chevrolet UK announced last week they would not be taking part in the BTCC in 2012 and instead will focus on the World Touring Car Championship, Where for the last two seasons they have claimed both drivers title, and Manufacturers titles respectively.

RML Managing Director George Ledrum was quoted “We had set ourselves deadlines to press the green light for this season and we went past all of those, We had been working on a new Generation Touring Car until recently. We were a long way down the road with that but obviously Chevrolet had made the decision. We are obviously disappointed, but we are fully behind the BTCC and would like to be back in the future”

Chevrolet UK’s Managing Director Mark Terry said ” I would like to wish RML the very best for 2012, and thank our many fans for their support over the last two years”

This Means there will be no factory supported Chevrolet on the BTCC grid in 2012, although there are rumours other private teams may try and get the cruze back out. This time with a Turbo engine so watch this space.

In the Meantime You Chevy Racing fans can still cheer on Chevrolet and British Driver Rob Huff in the World touring Car Championship, which is shown on EuroSport. New season starts 11th March at Monza, and it should be a good one with Ford, Lada, BMW, and SEAT all having cars on the grid this year.

Below is some highlights from the 2011 Word Touring Car Championship enjoy

And dont think that the instruments used arent real they were, the piano’s featured had the lowest octaves tuned to the same note so that they’d play the right note no matter where they were struck

Enjoy the song aint half bad either

The car will be based on a stretched version of the current Aveo, and will feature the option of two-wheel and four-wheel drivetrains. Engine wise it’s expected Chevy may feature and new 1.6 Euro approved Diesel unit, and the possibility of new turbo petrol engines to meet strict Euro emission rules.

(picture right shows the rear of the car, you can see the familiar rear light cluster of current Aveo)

It is also expected that this could be the first Chevy in the UK to feature the New MyLINK digital interface system (shown Below), if you look closely at this picture (below) you’ll notice the white surrounded screen in the centre of the dash. This interface will also feature heavily in the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu which is also coming to the UK.

The Aveo SUV will also spawn a Corsa SUV from Chevrolet’s sister company Vauxhall, so both cars should share a lot of the switch gear, running gear, and engine line up.

If you look at the picture at the top of our article you will notice a jacked up Meirva, which is rumoured to be the test mule for the Vauxhall version.

Enclosed are the concept versions of how the Aveo SUV may look. Although this will bel toned down slightly and will most likely feature a 5 door layout not shown on these images.

Aveo SUV is expected to be unveiled at the 2012 Paris motorshow

Despite the camouflage its clear to see the estate has kept the Cruze Family front end with trademark grille. Most of the camouflage is over the Rear to hide the key design features of the estate, although you can still get a feel for the lines of the new car. As you can see the estate has a sloping roofline from front to back , so id say the Cruze estate is more in the line of  Sports tourer, similar to its Astra tourer Sister of which it may share some key components.

The Cruze Estate will also feature the new grille and headlight design which will feature on all models of the Cruze at some point. This is why images released by GM and Chevrolet so far only feature the rear of the NEW Station Wagon. See Below

(Here is also an artist impressions of the new cruze estate)

Cruze Estate is expected to be launched at the Geneva motor show in March 2012, although no prices or engines have been disclosed, I would expect the same range of petrol and diesels variant currently available in the rest of the cruze range to feature.

It’s not clear yet how many markets the Cruze Estate will feature in, although one thing to be assured it will be coming to the UK, and help Chevrolet break into the lucrative estate market

Its been a Busy Day testing for Chevrolet, in this picture you can see the models queuing up, I think the model featured below will be the New Aveo SUV crossover, which I will give you details of as soon as I get them.

At 4,678mm, the estate is 81mm longer than the saloon and 168mm longer than the hatch, and it offers a maximum of 1,500 litres of boot space with its rear seats folded flat. Roof rails come as standard, too.

The Cruze Station Wagon is powered by an all-new 130bhp 1.7-litre diesel. It comes with stop-start, and has emissions of 119g/km.

Chevrolet has updated the look of the entire Cruze range for 2012. There’s a revised front end, new headlight clusters and fog lamps, as well as new wheel designs.

The interior sees the introduction of MyLink, which enables access to the contents of your smartphone via the dash-mounted touchscreen, a feature that will be available in both the Cruze and Aveo supermini. A restyled centre console and more interior colour options round off the changes.

The Chevrolet Cruze Wagon goes on sale in June, with prices starting from around £13,000.

So when you are as big a Chevrolet fan as us and you get an invite down to the LAUNCH of an exciting new model it’s not something you decline in a hurry, and to be fair regardless of miles I was going to be there for this, which by the way was 642 miles in total for me. To be honest the NEW Aveo had already interested me with its looks, trim spec and also equipment levels, so when I got the call to go and be a guest of Chevrolet UK to drive this wonderful new car I nearly bit their arm off.

First things first the location was superb, we traveled to Worcestershire and were based at the Dormy House hotel, the food was stunning and the rooms were so so comfortable so all in all not a bad place to reside while testing a car.

As always if you deal with any Staff within the Chevrolet UK Team they are  superb, and always happy to help, whenever they can, and to be really honest they are the best people I have ever come across in the motoring world, they are so passionate about the brand and love what they do and this always shines through when you talk to them.

To the car itself, The Aveo which I have enclosed (left) is Chevrolet’s brand new supermini to take on the Ford Fiesta and Hyundai i20 in this sector, this is not only a european model as with the outgoing Aveo this will be a global car with it also going on sale in the states branded as the Sonic. The main difference with this Aveo is , and this is fact this model was designed from scratch by Chevrolet this IS not a rebadged Daewoo as many say UK Chevrolet’s are these days. Now with Aveo there are 3 models and 4 engines to choose from, you have the LS the LT and the LTZ which is the top spec model on sale, but even the standard LS gets, Cruise control with speed limiter, Electronic stability control (ESC), Hill Start Assist, Anti-Lock Braking System, Traction Control, Air Conditioning, starting from £8995,  I’ve looked around currently you’ll struggle to get that level of kit on any other Supermini for that money. The three engines available are a 1.2 litre with 83 BHP, a 1.4 with 101BHP, and two diesels for the first time in Aveo UK a 1.3 VCDI unit either in ECO spec with stop the Start the or without , Bonus with ECO VCDI is its more powerful and qualifies for Zeroroad tax due to emissions, both diesels can still do over 70 MPG.

When you Upgrade to LT Spec you add, 15″ Alloy Wheels, Chrome Grille Surround, Body Colour Door Handles, Bluetooth Phone compatibility, Steering Wheel Audio Controls, Outside Temperature Sensor to standard Kit, with this model you can either choose 1.2, 1.4 engines or even choose one of the diesels, although with LS you can only opt for 1.2 currently.

LTZ as mentioned above is the Flagship model adding, 16″ Alloy Wheels, Automatic Headlamps, Front Fog Lights, Rear Parking Distance Sensors, Leather Steering Wheel, Front Passenger Seat Storage, Movable Boot Load Cover. So as you can see there is a lot more to choose from with New Aveo.

The Drive itself in all Engine specs was, refined , comfortable and relaxing , with cruise control you can just sit back enjoy the ride and let the Aveo do the work. The Diesel is a particularly strong package, with a huge amount of torque, and superb pull up hills and out of corners, during our hour test it was also averaging 69.7 MPG and I wasnt really trying to drive economically at all. The Drive itself was on fairly twisty hilly roads and even when pushed to hard into corners the Aveo never lost its composer, or had any Traction control movements. Ive Driven a few cars in this class, and to be fair the Aveo is by far the most rewarding to drive. You feel safe while driving Aveo mainly because it is a Five STAR NCAP car but also because it just feel so compsed while your driving it.

The one I would personally have, (hoping to buy next year) is the 1.2 LT. As a current Chevrolet Spark LT owner, I like the spec this model comes with particularly fold up key (don’t ask), also the 1.2 enigine on my drive still managed 49.0 MPG at one point so for my use this is ideal for me. Also its still fantastically well priced for the kit you get, and the styling is  modern, and Sportier looking than the alternatives out there in the supermini class. Also its roomy has a big boot and will seat four people comfortably. What more could you want?

But the best of all its a Chevrolet and its hard to describe but when you drive one you get a sense of passion and pride , you feel the years of the Chevrolet Brand being one of the biggest car makers in the world, and you think why did i ever buy anything else before? Trust me I’ve had my Chevrolet Spark (pictured left)  for 2 Years now and I love it, no problems with it at all to report.

If you were to drive any of the New Chevrolet’s you’ll be pleasantly surprised, and impressed so give it a go. As the Advert goes No more missed opportunities, Chevrolet Make It Happen.

This Article was Brought to You by team Chevy_FansUK we are owners and fans of all thing things Chevy find us on twitter @Chevy_FansUK, this article is based on our opinions and has no connection to Chevrolet UK

Thanks

The Chevrolet Malibu has been on sale in the US market for years, so it was a great surprise when Chevrolet Europe announced , the Malibu would be coming to the UK and europe in 2013.

Already in Chevy_FansUK Blog I’ve told you about the Cruze Estate, and the Aveo SUV being launched into the European and UK market, so this will be the third Major release over here for Chevrolet in as many months.

This New car is really a direct replacement for the Chevrolet Epica, which was on sale over here for a short while, although never really proved a sales success.

As you can see from the pictures below,the Malibu is final pre production stage, and was caught out testing with very little camouflage. The familiar Bowtie badge and trademark grille are clearly visible , also as with many new Chevrolet’s you can see the front lights merge into the wing and follow the high waist line all the way to the rear of the car.

The Designers say the new Malibu takes inspiration from the Camaro, and it’s plain to see with the cars angled coupe style windscreen pillars, roofline and beefy rear, Camaro inspired rear light clusters also feature. (below)

Chevrolet are only expected to offer Four cylinder engines in the New Malibu, with Normally aspirated 2.4L and 2.0L turbo charged ECOTEC units being mentioned. Other rumours of features such as Four wheel drive and possibility of a hybrid joining the Malibu range have also been mentioned.

The Malibu will also feature as mentioned before in my Blogs the Brand new MyLink media interface. This is Chevy’s Answer to iDrive In BMW’s and alike, Basically in a nut shell you can connect your smart phone to the system and connect to music files, the internet and even make calls, without touching your phone once . It is a big step forward for the Brand particularly in the UK market.

Malibu is expected to arrive in UK market by the end of 2012, although I’ve heard more like 2013 before the first cars start being delivered to customers in the UK.

here is  the teaser trailer for your enjoyment,

The brand expects to achieve record sales of over 18,600 this year on the back of new products, including the all-new Aveo, and better supply of existing models. Chevrolet also plans to expand its network to 110 sites.

The network was issued with 24 month termination notices in December, with many dealers told they need bigger showrooms to accommodate what is planned to be a nine model line up. The process will identify which partners are prepared to invest in expanded or new premises. Dealers who already meet performance and space requirements have been issued with Dealers Sales and Service Agreement offers.

Mark Terry (pictured), UK managing director confirmed the franchise has also attracted the interest of Saab dealers following the Swedish carmaker’s collapse in December. It has already appointed its first partner Cambridge Chevrolet, which previously traded as Buckingham and Stanley Saab.

“We closed an open point and picked up a really good operator. We’re talking to three other Saab dealers and are on the brink of establishing them to take on Chevrolet. The values of a Saab operator fit very well with our strategy. They’re mostly owner-drivers and therefore take a real care and passion in there businesses.”

With around 65 per cent of the network dual franchising with Vauxhall, its sister GM brand, Terry confirmed some would need to boost the showroom presence of Chevrolet.

“This is not an anti Vauxhall strategy, it’s about dealers having the passion and focus to drive the Chevrolet business to level which we think it should be driven to.”

Chevrolet’s revamp is part of a wider initiative led by Jim Bunnell, Chevrolet Europe’s new executive vice president dealer network and sales operations and the GM executive who masterminded the overhaul of the US network which he reduced from 8,000 to 4,000 sites.