Chevy Aveo Parts | GM Parts House

What is the history of the Chevrolet Aveo?

The Daewoo Kalos is a subcompact automobile manufactured by GM Daewoo (the South Korean subsidiary of General Motors) introduced in 2002 and marketed globally in 120 countries — prominently as the Chevrolet Aveo (ah-VAY-o).Marketed worldwide under five GM brands and eleven different nameplates, the Kalos vehicles have evolved through two re-stylings in the car's first generation and have featured three body styles and five engine configurations — all built on a dedicated platform shared with no other vehicles. The two styling iterations are called T200 and T250 — deriving from the internal coding used by first Daewoo and then GM Daewoo during the car's development. The nameplate "Kalos" derives from the Greek word kalos (καλός) for "beautiful".

The original Daewoo Kalos is based on a GM Daewoo T200 platform, which replaced the T100 platform of the Daewoo Lanos. Models constructed on this platform debuted in 2002 to South Korea, North America, Europe and most other markets. They were available in all three body styles. Pre-production prototypes were shown at the Geneva Auto Show in April 2002. Manufacture of the Kalos began in early March 2002. Under development before Daewoo's bankruptcy, the Kalos was the company's first new model introduction following its bankruptcy and subsequent takeover by GM.

GM introduced a revised sedan at Auto Shanghai 2005, designed in cooperation with PATAC. Bearing the internal code T250 and sold in South Korea as Daewoo Gentra, the revision comprised primarily interior and exterior styling changes, a new interior IP (instrument panel) and minor equipment changes, including increased sound deadening. Incorporation of the radio antenna into the rear glass and extensive wind tunnel testing helped reduce the coefficient of drag from 0.348 to 0.326. A restyled hatchback with the sedan's updated IP (instrument panel) was presented as the Chevrolet Aveo during the Frankfurt Motor Show 2007, to be marketed in Europe and North America. The Korean market received its own distinct restyle of the hatchback, the Gentra X. Later iterations, including the Kalos, Aveo, Barina and Gentra sedans, the Gentra X hatchback and the 2007 "Frankfurt Show" hatchbacks were styled in-house and with the assistance of PATAC -- and depart notably from the original Giugiaro exterior and interior styling designs. With launching Gentra X in South Korea, GMDAT had replaced engines of T250. 1.2 L S-TEC II engine had updated with features such as double overhead camshaft (DOHC) and timing chain (older version has timing chain) system. 1.6 L E-TEC II engine had replaced with ECOTEC (GEN-III) engine with new features such as variable valve timing mechanism.