Baby Holden to star at Detroit

The concept car poised to take centre stage of the General Motors' stand at this year's Detroit Motor Show -- which opens to the media in the early hours of Tuesday morning Australian time -- was born and bred in Australia.

In fact, if you look closely at the city skyline in the background of the official preview photos, Melbournians may recognise some of the buildings. That's because the photos were taken on the rooftop of the Holden staff car park at Fishermans Bend.

The Aveo RS concept car, finished in electric blue (dubbed 'true blue' by Holden insiders) was designed and built in Melbourne, but it will become General Motors' global city car challenger.

It is a thinly disguised replacement to the Holden Barina (sold as a Chevrolet Aveo in the USA) and is due in Australian showrooms either in late 2010 or early 2011.

GM was so determined to inject excitement into its next generation commuter car that it gave the assignment to a group of Holden designers who also happen to be performance motorcycle enthusiasts.

Thanks to video conferencing and computer-aided design technology, development of the concept car was also overseen by an Australian on the other side of the world.

Former Holden design boss, Mike Simcoe, has been based in Detroit for the past five years and is now the executive director in charge of GM's North American exterior design.

"The Aveo RS demonstrates how progressive design can inject personality into a small car. We want customers to see it and have an emotional reaction to it," he was quoted as saying in a press preview statement.

The show car rides on massive 19-inch wheels and is powered by a turbocharged 1.4-litre petrol engine.

While the concept car's massive wheels aren't likely to make it onto the real deal, it shows that GM is at least considering a successor to the Barina GSI hot hatch.

The engine, however, will soon become a showroom reality. It is the same engine at the heart of a performance version of the Holden Cruze small car later this year and possibly may form the basis of a HSV variant.

While the concept car is designed to wow crowds, it will be the commuter models of the new Barina range that will come first.

The arrival of the new Barina will give Holden a much needed shot in the arm after a tough couple of years with falling Commodore sales and a dramatic reduction in export dollars.

The next generation Barina will replace a car which is effectively more than a decade old. It was sold as a Daewoo Kalos before GM stuck Holden badges on it in 2005. But the Kalos, introduced in 2003, was effectively a new body on old Daewoo Lanos underpinnings.

As with the current Barina, the new Barina will also be made in Korea but expect a big leap forward in safety, quality and refinement.

Holden has not yet talked about the safety credentials of the new Barina, but it's likely to be a five-star car and come fully equipped with six airbags and stability control as standard.

This will be a stark contrast to the current Barina, which does not get such basics as anti-lock brakes on the base model. In November 2008, however, the Barina did gain seat-mounted side airbags (to bring the total airbag tally to four), which helped it earn a four-star safety rating.

Holden seems to be taking safety more seriously than before, perhaps to help reverse the image of its Korean-made cars.

The Carsales Network understands that, in addition to overhauling the Barina in 2008, Holden delayed the introduction of the Holden Spark, a tiny city runabout that rivals cars such as the Suzuki Alto, until it could get stability control fitted.

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