Sonic Hatchback

Make
Chevrolet
Segment
Hatchback

As America and the world at large gravitates towards increasingly bigger vehicles, the case for a small, fuel-efficient, basic hatch can't really be made. Proof of this can be seen in the Chevrolet Sonic, a car that flirted with extinction for a long time. Its inevitable death was delayed in 2018 and again the following year. But by the end of 2019, hardly any were sold in the States. Last year, the little runabout finally kicked the bucket, and nobody even noticed. But would the car have survived any longer if it looked any better? We highly doubt it, but GM's design team has posted a sketch of something that could be a revived Sonic.

We say that this could be a future product based on the hashtags that GM attached to the post, but a quick visit to Lead Exterior Designer at GM Brian Malczewski's Instagram profile reveals that this was a design sketch from 2014. You can see the rough shape of the old Sonic's headlights in the sketch, along with short overhangs and a small cargo area. But while the sketch looks pretty good, even staying true to such a striking design would likely not have saved the underperforming little box of tin from being sent to the junkyard in the sky.

Although Americans have shown that they don't want cars like the Sonic anymore, certain markets still value affordable compact cars that sip gas and run reliably. In Brazil, the Sonic was replaced by the Onix, and there is even an RS version down south that looks pretty good. Sadly, it is powered by the same 1.0-liter turbo-three that produces 116 horsepower and 122 lb-ft of torque found in the regular Onix. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what performance this car offers - unless Chevy revives the Sonic as a direct competitor to the GR Yaris, we doubt anyone will give it a second thought ever again.