Strangely, when GM made the announcement to kill off several models from its lineup, the Chevrolet Sonic and Chevrolet Spark hatchback models were not on the chopping block. This may seem strange considering the company is getting rid of the Chevrolet Cruze, Chevrolet Impala, Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac XTS and eventually the Cadillac CT6 have already been listed as the models that will receive the axe. Whether these models are all just unlucky enough to be part of what’s built at the plants that are being closed and aren’t operating anywhere near the capacity they should be operating at.
No Confirmation or Denial in Regards to the Sonic
The people who are most familiar with the plans to delete models from the GM portfolio seemed to be a bit annoyed at the continued request for comment regarding the fate of the Chevrolet Sonic. So far, all they have told us is, they wouldn’t comment regarding the Sonic and there hasn’t been any announcement made to discontinue this car in the US. This was explained as being neither confirmation nor a denial of the fate of the car but rather to simply be a lack of information, making it a complete tautology of which we can surmise what we want.
The Sonic Story
The Chevrolet Sonic arrived in 2012 to replace the Chevrolet Aveo and this car has only been through one upgrade in its time on the market. This upgrade took place for the 2016 model year and it was offered at the New York Auto Show to give us a look at what we would enjoy in this little car. There weren’t any other major changes including an RS model that gave us a stiffer suspension, better brakes, and a close-ratio six-speed manual transmission for the drive.
Fun to Drive Didn’t Translate to Sales
The sales for the Chevrolet Sonic has declined significantly since the 2014 model year when there were over 93,000 models sold. The 2018 sales of this car came in at a dismal 20,613 models which makes a strong argument for this to be a car that’s taken off the market for the future. Even so, nothing has been confirmed by the GM team to let us know if this will be another small car that will make its way to the junk pile of GM and no longer be offered.
The Plant for the Sonic Survives
One of the only reasons that we can find that would save the Chevrolet Sonic from being deleted from the market is the fact that the Orion plant is not one that’s planned for closure. The Orion assembly plant is staying open even though its currently only operating at 34 percent of capacity with the Sonic being one of the models built at this plant. Only time will tell us if the Sonic will make its way beyond the 2019 model year, but it’s not a car that you should get too attached to on the market with the number of vehicles that are being deleted from the market.
