New Chevy Montana Small Pickup Truck Launched for South America

The South American arm of Chevrolet has dropped info and pics on its new Montana ute/truck/thing, and from the looks of it, the US market has avoided a bomb. If memory serves me correctly, the closest thing we've had here was the Subaru Baja, and that ended in tears.

Based on South America's new Chevrolet Agile hatchback, the Montana - not to be confused with the Colorado, another state-themed waste of space - will arrive in January 2011 and offer our friends to the South (not you, Hugo!) the segment's most storage and 1.4 power. The ute has a potential payload of 758 kilograms in its 1,100 liter bed (1,180 without the cover).

The 1.4-liter engine makes 102 horsepower if fed alcohol and a mere 97 ponies when running on gasoline. With alcohol, the car will peak at 170 km/h and hit 100 km/h (62mph) in 12.1 seconds. As expected, running on gasoline adds a few extra ticks (12.3 to 100 km/h and a top speed of 168 km/h). So, this car is like Bender from Futurama: alcohol makes it stronger.

Dimensions are like this:4.51 meters long, 1.70 m wide and 1.58 m high. Inside the oddly-shaped cabin, a dual cabin layout and "embossed seat" technology are present. Apparently it's to make the interior slightly more aesthetically pleasing and comfortable.

As you can see, the Montana wears Chevy's new global face, behind which is a body only a mother could love. Other than that, the Montana will come in two trim levels for "work and fun": LS and Sport.

The base workhorse LS features the most cabin space in the segment at 164 liters behind the seats, has a side step, and rides on 14- or 15-inch wheels. On top of that, the Sport - which is more for daily use - adds standard 15's, black headlight housings, body color mirrors, and other "premium" touches like cruise control and dual airbags.

Other available features include blue backlighting for the gauges, digital temperature readouts, automatic headlights, CD/MP3/USB/iPod player and connections, and power windows and locks.

Any South American readers out there, please weigh in on this one. Do you like?

By Phil "I was working off a Google-translated press release" Alex

First Publicly Available 2011 Camaro Convertible Fetches $205,000

The promise of being the owner of the first available production version of the yet-to-be-released 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible was more than enough to make an unnamed collector drop $205,000 for the car at last weekend's Barrett-Jackson Auction. But at least the sale was for a good cause as 100 per cent of proceeds from the winning bid will go to the YMCA of Southern Nevada.

The car shown at the auction was the Camaro Convertible Concept. The actual production model seen in the teaser shots we added in the gallery below is scheduled to make its world premiere later this fall -most likely at the LA Auto Show- and go on sale across the States early next year.

General Motors said that for historical purposes, it will keep the first production example of the 2011 Camaro Convertible.

GM to Auction Production 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible on Friday, Debut Announced for this Fall (LA?)

We've yet to see the final production version of the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible, but one lucky collector will have the chance to be become the first owner of the car on Friday, several months before it arrives (in both V6 and V8 flavors) in showrooms in the first quarter of 2011.

To explain, General Motors has tied the knot with Greg Heinrich, owner of Fairway Chevrolet in Las Vegas, to offer the second production example of the upcoming 2011 Camaro Convertible at the Barrett-Jackson Auction on Friday (Sept. 24) at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. All proceeds from the auction will benefit the YMCA of Southern Nevada.

For the record, the first production copy of the car will be kept by GM for historical purposes.

The Detroit automaker said the winning bidder can opt for color, engine, transmission, trim and factory installed equipment. The buyer will also have the option to take delivery of the car at a dealership in their hometown OR at the GM Heritage Museum in Detroit.

Understandably, GM will show the concept version of the car at the auction and not the actual production model which according to the company, will make its debut later this fall. We assume this means GM will unveil the 2011 Camaro Convertible at the Los Angeles Auto Show in late November.

Chevrolet Camaro Convertible Concept

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2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible [Pre-Production Teasers]

GM Preparing Demo Fleet of 202HP Cruze EVs for South Korea

South Korea is really getting serious about electric vehicles. Following the news last week of a Kia CUV EV to join Hyundai's BlueOn i10, GM has announced it will build a demonstration fleet of battery-powered Chevrolet Cruze sedans from the end of October.

The cars will be deployed in Seoul, with GM planning on testing them in other, unspecified urban markets at a later date. The idea is to test the market needs and consumer acceptance of battery electric vehicles and to gather data on real-world driving patterns and charging behavior.

The demonstration vehicles will be badged both as Daewoos (as the Lacetti Premiere) and Chevrolets (as the Cruze), despite the fact the latter is not sold in South Korea.

The project is a joint venture between GM Daewoo, LG Chem (who make the batteries) and LG Electronics (who make the motor and invertors). GM and LG Chem have been working together since 2008 with this being their second project together after the Chevrolet Volt.

The Cruze EV features an underbody-mounted 31-kwh battery and an electric motor producing 150 kw (equal to 202-horsepower). Tthe demonstration vehicles can sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (62mph) in 8.2 seconds and reach a maximum speed of 165 km/h (102.5 mph). Tests by LG Chemical estimate that the driving range could be up to 160 km, with a recharge time of 8 to 10 hours on a standard 220 volt outlet.

GM has yet to reveal how many cars will be built or who exactly will be testing them, though these details will probably come with the launch October.

By Tristan Hankins

2011 Chevrolet Captiva First Look

2011 Chevrolet Captiva Official Photos

2011 Chevrolet Captiva Details

2011 Chevrolet Captiva Side Mirror View

2011 Chevrolet Captiva Interior

2011 Chevrolet Captiva Rear Angle View

2011 Chevrolet Captiva First Look

2011 Chevrolet Captiva Official Photos

2011 Chevrolet Captiva Details

2011 Chevrolet Captiva Side Mirror View

2011 Chevrolet Captiva Interior

2011 Chevrolet Captiva Rear Angle View

Australia: The Pricey World of Right-Hand Drive Conversions

Car buyers in Australia and other RHD countries have long got the short end of the stick in terms of American muscle cars. The reason is quite simple: they drive on the "wrong" side of the road.

Most manufacturers are unwilling to do right-hand-drive conversions on what are essentially specialist models: cars like the Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Viper, Ford Mustang and the like. There just aren't enough buyers to rationalize the cost.

Fortunately, a cottage industry (or rather a man-in-a-shed industry) has popped up offering RHD conversions of American muscle cars for eager buyers in countries like Australia, the UK and Japan.

In Australia, for instance, you can get just about anything from a AU$359,990 Corvette ZR-1 (or around three times as much as it does in the U.S.) to a AU$139,000 Chevrolet Camaro (or the same as an Audi S5 Cabrio in Australia).

Want a 2011 Mustang GT convertible? Be prepared to pony up AU$142,500 (the same as brand new Porsche Boxster Spyder) for that Pony. And it becomes even more laughable when you look at the U.S. prices for these same cars:

We do not claim to know the full details involved with importing a car and converting it to RHD, but it can't be so difficult as to demand the of a new entry-level Porsche 911...

So the next time you harrumph at some foreign nobody, whining about, "How good you bleedin' Yanks have got it" – spare a thought for the poor, cash-strapped Aussie... selling his 911 to buy a RHD Corvette ZR-1.

By Tristan Hankins

Here's where we found pricing information for the RHD conversions:

Corvette Clinic - makers of the RHD ZR-1
Mustang Australia - builders of RHD Mustangs
Performax - makers of the RHD Camaro and other cars

And Top Gear Australia magazine's August 2010 issue.

VIDEOS: 2011 Chevrolet Aveo, Captiva Facelift, Orlando MPV and Cruze Hatchback

As promised, here are the respective promotional videos of Chevrolet's Paris Motor Show-bound Aveo sub-compact, Captiva 7-seater SUV, Orlando 7-seater MPV and the Cruze five-door hatchback. From these four cars, only the Aveo has been confirmed for the U.S market with sales of both the five-door variant and the yet-to-be-revealed sedan model to start sometime in 2011.

New Chevy Orlando MPV: Sneak Peek of the Interior

By some act of dark magic, we've found ourselves with some shots of a few upcoming GM Paris debuts. In this case, we're talking about the Orlando compact MPV which comes with stadium seating for seven. Despite its having lost some of the concept's original chunk, the interior is actually quite appealing. As expected, the dash looks very similar to the concept's layout.

Also, looking at the live shots of the minivan's exterior, its rear-end doesn't appear to ride nearly as high as the initial pics would suggest. We'll have to wait for some high-res close-ups before THE FINAL JUDGEMENT, though.

After its reveal in Paris, the Cruze-based Orlando MPV will show up in Europe early next year with three engine options: a 1.8-liter gasoline unit (141 horsepower) or the 2.0-liter diesel with low- or high-output (131 and 163 horsepower, respectively). No torque figures have been revealed yet, but color me antsy in the pantsy about that high-output diesel...

By Phil Alex

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