Chevrolet is bringing a set of new cars to the Guangzhou Motor Show, including a revived Monza as a midsize sedan.
Here in North America, sedans are being replaced by the far more popular crossover and SUV body style. China also likes their crossovers, but they also like their sedans. Chevrolet likes to appeal to every kind of car buyer, so they’re bringing a brand new sedan where it has a better chance of selling, and they’ve given it a classic name from Chevy’s past: Monza.
For those of you not born in the ‘60s, the Monza was a car built from model years 1975 to 1980. It evolved from the Chevy Vega and was originally supposed to carry a GM-Wankel rotary engine, but poor fuel economy and even worse emissions canned that powerplant. Instead, the Monza got a pair of big V8s at 4.3-L or 5.7-L.
Over 730,000 Monzas were produced over its 6-year lifespan coming in fastback, coupe, and station wagon designs. It was eventually replaced by the new J-body line of front-wheel-drive cars, including the Chevy Cavalier and Cadillac Cimarron.
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Our new Monza is officially called the Monza RS Sedan, and Chevy gave us a teaser of the front fascia to whet our appetites. Chevy describes the sedan as having a "dynamic design that inherits the brand's sporty DNA and reflects the youthful aesthetic trend to cater to the preferences of younger car buyers."
From what we can see, the nose has a slight Camaro-ishness to it visible in the grille shape and the crossbar bowtie logo. It seems fairly muscular, but body shapes mean absolutely nothing when it comes to performance, and Asian markets typically get less powerful cars than here in ‘Merica.
For example, Chevy is also bringing a new Malibu to Guangzhou called the Malibu Redline that has the same 2.0-L turbo 4-cylinder as here but only 237 hp as opposed to our 250 hp.
Chevy is also debuting something called the FNR-CarryAll concept SUV, which looks like a Camaro had a baby with a Blazer. Chevy doesn’t provide any power numbers for the concept but does say it gets a 12-inch infotainment screen.