The coolest Chevy of the late ’90s and early aughts is very likely the Chevy Astro van. Yes, the sleek profile of the GMT400 pickup is classic, but the Astro van can slide. Another ubiquitous Chevy from that time period is the Cavalier, which was the kind of car that just wouldn’t die.
That is, until it was put to pasture in 2005, when its production and sale in the U.S. came to an end. The car stuck around on the Mexican market, and now it’s getting a big update there. The Cavalier is still not returning to the U.S., sadly, but it is living the ’90s dream. Chevy is debuting the Cavalier as a new model with forced induction in Mexico, as the 2022 Chevrolet Cavalier Turbo.
General Motors Mexico is hyping up the upcoming release of the Cavalier Turbo, which is set to be introduced at the end of this year. We won’t know the exact specs or trims for a while, and Chevrolet states the information will be released closer to its release date. General Motors Mexico is referring to the sedan as the “all-new” Cavalier, but that’s not exactly true.
This car has existed on the Chinese market since 2019, where it was sold as the Monza. So, this all-new Cavalier Turbo is simply a Chevy Monza, but it marks the first time the compact sedan has been available to drivers in North America.
The car has had a successful run in its native Chinese market, per GM Authority, so it makes sense that Chevrolet would want to make it available in markets abroad. Now, Chevy has combined the well-known Cavalier nameplate with a newer, successful model as it hopes to regain some of the market share for the compact sedan segment in Mexico.
The Cavalier Turbo is likely to be powered by the bigger of the engines that the Chinese Monza comes with, a 1.3-liter I3 that makes about 161 horsepower and will be mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, as GM Authority claimed.
It’s possible, however, that Chevy could also go with the same drivetrain as a couple of other cars already sold in Mexico for the new Cavalier Turbo, according to Motorpasion Mexico. If that were the case, the Cavalier Turbo could share an engine with the Onix and Tracker, which are both powered by a 1.2-liter I3 engine. This turbo triple-cylinder only makes about 128 horsepower, though, which is quite a bit less than the larger Monza motor, and would not be such a good value for Mexican drivers.
In either case, the Cavalier Turbo will be yet another example of a Chinese market Chevy finding its way to North America, like with the Chevy Captiva. That’s all fine and good, but what General Motors should really be doing is importing its massively popular GM-Wuling Mini EV to Mexico, so it can get an early start dominating the Mexican EV market.
