Archive for the ‘Hatchbacks’ Category

The Chevrolet Beat has been paraded around the last several auto shows as the forerunner to the production Spark hatchback, which was first revealed at this year’s Geneva Motor Show back in March. The new Spark is to sit just below the Aveo as Chevy’s smallest car, but in the past couple of months, spy photos of a Spark-styled but slightly larger vehicle have been captured as it underwent testing in Europe.

Now, for the first time, this new vehicle has been spotted testing in the U.S., which suggests that it is actually a prototype for the 2011 Chevrolet Aveo.

The prototype definitely shares traits with the Spark, possibly...

• What is it?: The 2011 Ford Fiesta’s Mazda sibling • The basics: Funky styling, and “zoom zoom” philosophy • On sale: Fall 2010, with a public showing at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show • Price: Less than $16,000 (est.)

Compact hatchbacks have for a long time performed poorly in the U.S. but with fuel prices inevitably set to rise and customers shifting to smaller cars a number of major automakers have revealed their desires to bring the economical runabouts Stateside. Mazda is one such company, and today it has confirmed that it will start selling its funky Mazda2 in North American showrooms in the...

Is it 1973 all over again? Volkswagen is amping up for a fuel-economy battle with Honda and Ford, right here in America, with a new hatchback. Only this time, some of the names have changed, and so have the rules. Come 2011 or so, it's the VW Polo readying for a fight with the Honda Fit and Ford Fiesta. The fuel economy sea-changes and financial crises? Those things are reassuringly chillingly familiar.

Now, the Polo you see here--the one we drove in Germany recently--isn't the car you'll see in the U.S. in about two years' time. This Polo's a mid-lifecycle freshening of the current car, with the added spin of a three-door hatchback joining...