Definitely not the new cavalier: a solid foundation and focus on quality takes the Chevrolet Cobalt to a new level in the small car market

The engineering team’s orders from GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and small car Vehicle Line Executive Lori Queen was to design and develop the best car in class. Really! “We wanted to bring a credible small car back to Chevy in a really big way,” Queen says. Taking that order seriously, they drew up a wish-list of 150 components, systems and attributes required to achieve that … and were thrilled and surprised to see those wishes granted.

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“We benchmarked all our competitors,” she relates. “We had to lead in NVH [noise, vibration and harshness] and achieve best-in-class body gaps. On our very first evaluation drive of prototypes, the Cobalt exceeded all the targets when judged against the list of competitive vehicles’ strengths and market advantages. The 150-point list was a sort of Holy Grail on which the engineers focused their attention. And with such strong results, there was no going back. There truly were no compromises to the list.”

“What has Cobalt in common with Cavalier? Other than its Ecotec engine, transmission and basic suspension layout–essentially nothing. The suspension geometry is all different,” GM Small Car Program Engineering Manager Gary Altman asserts. “The whole setup and how it performs. The lower control arms have additional ride bushings of an elastomeric that can dampen itself yet be soft. The rear axle is designed, mounted and controlled completely differently, similar to that on GM’s European Opels, with special bushings and the attitude [fore-aft angle] of its trailing arms enabling precise tuning of its handling response. The EPS (electronic power steering) is vastly improved over the Saturn’s, yet retains the fuel economy benefit. The interior [by Intier] and the way it’s put together are significantly different, with European accent and Chevy brand character. The concept is that fewer pieces are better.”

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