Daewoo Lacetti
The Daewoo Lacetti is a compact car manufactured and marketed globally by GM Korea since 2002. The first-generation Lacetti was available as a four-door sedan and five-door station wagon, styled by Pininfarina—and five-door hatchback styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro. The sedan and wagon were marketed as the Daewoo Nubira in some European markets and as the Suzuki Forenza in North America. The hatchback, was introduced in 2004 and marketed as Daewoo Lacetti5 in South Korea, Suzuki Reno in the United States. After the 2004 model year, it was marketed as Chevrolet Nubira and Lacetti in Europe, as the Chevrolet Optra in Canada, Latin America, Africa, Middle East, India, Pakistan, Japan and Southeast Asia, and as the Holden Viva in Australia and New Zealand.
In 2008, the second-generation Lacetti was launched as the Daewoo Lacetti Premiere, a badge-engineered version of the Chevrolet Cruze, co-developed by GM Daewoo, Holden, and General Motors. It was marketed under the Daewoo marque until the beginning of 2011, when the brand was discontinued, and was thereafter marketed under the Chevrolet and Holden brands.
The name Lacetti derives from the Latin "Lacertus", meaning "youthful".
First generation (J200; 2002)
The Lacetti was developed based on its predecessor Nubira under Daewoo before it was acquired by GM. The four-door sedan, designed by Pininfarina, was launched in South Korea on 25 November 2002, following a development period of two years and six months.A pre-production prototype of the five-door hatchback, styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro, was shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2003 with production starting in December. The hatchback featured a different exterior and interior design than the sedan.
At the Geneva Motor Show in March 2004, Daewoo revealed the station wagon body variant penned by Pininfarina with the hatchback's updated interior and a facelifted derivative of the sedan's frontal styling. The facelift replaced the three-slot grille with a single item for a new full-length item featuring a bold horizontal bar capped in the center by the company's logo. The wagon's door handles ditch the lift-up variety from the sedan and hatchback for pullout versions. A facelift for the sedan was released on 25 March incorporating these new door handles, front-end styling and interior changes. The hatchback also received new door handles around this time.
The sedan was facelifted for some markets from 2007, receiving the same front end as the hatchback featured since its debut. This version was only produced in third world countries, such as Colombia, India or Thailand, and in 2013–2016 in [|Uzbekistan] as the Daewoo Gentra.
Marketing and production
South Korea
In South Korea, the four-door Daewoo Lacetti was released in 2002. The five-door hatchback showed off only after the 2004 facelift of the sedan, which mainly included a new front grille, switching from a three-part corporate Daewoo grille to a simpler, Chevrolet-style grille. The hatchback name was Lacetti5, offering a specific design for the front, rear and dashboard.The wagon version, called simply the Lacetti Wagon, was introduced in late 2007—though it was already sold in many other countries. It had the same dashboard as the hatchback, with the sedan front end. At the same time, GM Daewoo introduced the VM Motori diesel engines on the Lacetti range.
When the Lacetti Premiere was introduced in November 2008, the sedan and wagon version sales were discontinued, leaving the only hatchback in the range, renamed Lacetti EX. The Lacetti EX was discontinued in October 2009.
In the same year Chevrolet Optra entered the Iraqi market with the 1.6-liter engine and manual transmission, a few years later Iraqi government used the LS version as traffic police vehicle.
Australia and New Zealand
In Australia and New Zealand the Daewoo Lacetti was briefly sold between September 2003 and December 2004 as a four-door sedan. At this time, Daewoo withdrew from the Australian market. Fitted with the 1.8-liter engine rated at and, the Lacetti offered standard five-speed manual or optional four-speed automatic transmission. The single trim level, called SX, included are dual front airbags, air conditioning, power steering, keyless entry, power windows, CD player, and an alarm. The special edition SX Limited from October 2003 added anti-lock brakes, side impact airbags, alloy wheels, climate control air conditioning, six-stacker CD player, tilt/telescopic steering wheel, lumbar support for the front passenger seat, and leather trim.From 2005, the Lacetti and Lacetti hatchback were sold together as the JF series Holden Viva. It was introduced at around the same time as the Daewoo Gentra-based Holden Barina. Unlike the Barina, however, the Viva was meant to be below the premium Holden Astra as a budget alternative.
Despite the Viva's lower price compared to the Astra, the Astra continued to outsell the Viva by a factor of about two-to-one.
With the release of the all new Holden Cruze in mid-2009 the Viva ceased to be sold in Australia. In New Zealand, where many cars are imported second-hand from Japan, several Japanese specification Chevrolet Optra sedans and wagons were also sold.
Canada
The Lacetti was sold in Canada as the Chevrolet Optra. Two body styles were available for the entirety of its sales run, a four-door hatchback and an Optra wagon, all in LS or LT trim levels, while sedan was available for model years 2004 and 2005, but was removed for 2006.All are powered by the 2.0-liter inline-four D-TEC engine, rated at at 5400 rpm and of torque at 4000 rpm, driving the front wheels through either a five-speed manual transmission or a four-speed automatic. Despite its compact size and the 2.0-liter engine, fuel economy was poor rated at for city and highway driving, respectively, which was worse than mid-size cars like the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord, considering that the Optra was a compact car.
The main selling point of the Optra was its low price at $12,000 MSRP. The car was positioned as a versatile and fun to drive but affordable budget compact family car. The Optra slotted between the Cobalt and the Aveo, and it replaced the Daewoo Nubira.
Brakes are disc, front and rear. Independent suspension, 15-inch wheels, and CD player were standard on the LS sedan, with optional ABS and air conditioning; the LT adds standard air conditioning and cruise control, standard fog lamps on both LS and LT, and an optional sunroof. The sedan is rated as an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle.
The Optra5 hatchback was added to the line-up for 2004 and was more contemporary in styling and equipment, with projector type headlights and fog lamps, clear taillight lenses, and blackout grille. In addition to the same options available on the sedan LS and LT models, an options package contained alloy wheels, sunroof, spoiler, leather steering wheel and shift knob, and steering wheel mounted controls for the eight-speaker audio system.
The Optra wagon was also added to the line-up for 2005, sharing the sedan's front styling. The wagon has standard alloy roof rails, 60/40 folding rear seat, and a 12-volt power outlet in the rear compartment, in addition to the same options available on the sedan LS and LT models.
General Motors Canada discontinued the importation of Optra for 2008, leaving 2007 as the last model year.
China
In China, the cars are marketed as the Buick Excelle sedan or wagon and Excelle HRV. The sedan, which is also assembled in China, features an updated exterior.The successor to the Daewoo Lacetti-based Buick Excelle is based on the global GM Delta II platform, like the Opel Astra and Chevrolet Cruze and their derivatives. The development center at the Opel plant in Rüsselsheim, Germany, leads the development of this platform. This second generation hatchback Buick Excelle XT, making its debut in 2009, is actually a replica of the Opel Astra hatchback adapted to Chinese conditions. The corresponding sedan made its debut in China in 2010. A version of this sedan for North America was introduced for model year 2012 as Buick Verano, and as Opel Astra sedan in other parts of the world. The Lacetti-based first generation sedan, however, continued to be produced for the Chinese market until 2016.
Europe
In Europe, the car was initially sold as the Daewoo Nubira, with the production model being introduced at the 60th Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2003. However, by the end of 2004, it was rebadged Chevrolet Lacetti throughout the continent. As with its home market, in some European markets, the Lacetti name is also used for the entire range of sedan, station wagon and hatchback models on the same J-series platform. In Finland and Germany, for example, only the hatchback is sold under the Lacetti name.The European models were initially only available with the following gasoline-powered four-cylinder engines:
- 1.4 L E-TEC II— at 6300 rpm
- 1.6 L Family 1— at 5800 rpm, : 10.9 seconds and 10.6 seconds, top speed: and
- 1.8 L Family II— at 5800 rpm
- 2.0 L D-TEC— at 5800 rpm
- 2.0 L DOHC—, : 9 seconds, top speed:
- 2.0-liter SOHC turbo-diesel engine, under VM Motori licence of RA 420 SOHC,, torque from 2000 rpm, in 9 seconds, top speed. This engine is available with five-speed manual and five-speed automatic.
The engines built for the Nubira and its badge-engineered twins are the same as in the Lacetti hatchback and its badge-engineered versions. The 1.8-liter Family II four-cylinder engine is sourced from the Australian car maker Holden.