The most important cars in 110 year of Chevrolet

It was created by expatriate Swiss-born racing driver Louis Chevrolet and the former head of General Motors, William Durant, which he had founded three years earlier.

A disagreement between the two led Louis Chevrolet (1878-1941) to leave the company named after him. This may not have been a wise move, since Chevrolet made Durant (1861-1947) so much money he was able to buy his way back into the top spot at GM in 1916. Since then, Chevrolet has been, if not always the most respected of the GM brands, then certainly one of the most successful and it’s GM’s biggest selling marque by miles today. Here is its story, told through some of the many notable cars it has put on sale:

The first of all Chevrolet cars had a 299 cubic inch (4.9-litre) six-cylinder engine. It was fast and, at $2250, expensive, in sharp contrast to the already successful Model T Ford which was priced at just $680 at the time of the Chevrolet’s introduction in 1911.

Louis Chevrolet liked it, but William Durant didn’t. When Durant took over the business, he ensured that future Chevrolets would be considerably cheaper.

The four-ninety was Chevrolet’s breakthrough vehicle. Launched in 1915, it was competitive on price with the Model T Ford and sold well enough to enable Durant to regain his position at GM.

Like the Ford, the 490 was available in many different body styles, including (from 1918), a pickup truck.

The Series AC International was one of many mid-sized GM vehicles (including those with GMC, Oldsmobile and Pontiac branding) based on the A-body platform.

New models were being produced in quick succession in those days. The International was produced only in 1929 and was the follow-up to the 1928 Series AB National, which itself replaced the 1927 Series AA Capitol.

The Suburban nameplate is one of Chevy’s most famous nameplates, but was first used in 1934 and is still being used today. The first model was referred to as the Carryall Suburban, due to its startling level of practicality.

With enough space to seat eight people in three rows, the Suburban was essentially the forerunner of the MPV (multi purpose vehicle), or people carrier, decades before either of those names was used to describe a category. Nowadays of course the name resides on a full-size SUV, and is one of the best-selling in America.

Advance Design was the umbrella title for a variety of similar-looking Chevrolet trucks known individually as the 3100, 3600, 3800, Loadmaster and Thriftmaster. All were fitted with the Chevrolet straight-six engine which had been introduced in 1929 and was available in several capacities from 216ci to 261ci (3.5 litres to 4.3 litres).

Then as now, many Chevrolet models were “corporate cousins” of vehicles sold by the GMC brand. GMC versions of the Advance Design were known as New Design. Production lasted from 1947 to 1955.

The long history of the Corvette began in 1953. The first-generation car was unusual by later standards in that it was sold only as a convertible, it had a solid rear axle (rather than independent rear suspension) and, to begin with, it was sold only with a 235ci (3.9-litre) version of the ageing Chevrolet straight-six engine.

The celebrated Small Block V8 engine was introduced in 1955. Production continued until 1962, making this the third longest Corvette survivor after the third- and fourth-generation models.

Chevrolet began to use the Bel Air model name in 1950. The second-generation car, introduced in 1955, is notable for being the first non-sporting Chevrolet fitted with the Chevy Small Block V8 engine, initially in 265ci (4.3-litre) form.

Well over 100 million Small Blocks have been built, latterly as crate engines for customers to fit to their own vehicles. Today’s LS V8 engines are part of the same lineage, though there are major differences.

The first Impala was a top-of-the-line version of the Bel Air sold only in the 1958 model year. The body styles were two-door coupe and hardtop convertible (pictured), while the engines were a 3.9-litre straight-six, a 4.6-litre Small Block V8 and a 5.7-litre Big Block V8.

Production continued, with an interruption between 1985 and 1994, for ten generations. The Impala nameplate was retired, possibly for ever, when the last model – a front-wheel drive four-door sedan, was discontinued in February 2020 as part of GM’s switch to producing only pickups, crossovers and full-size SUVs, a move mirrored by the company’s traditional arch-rival, Ford.

The Corvair was a technically astonishing car, with an air-cooled flat-six engine mounted behind the rear wheels. Launched in 1960, it was the inspiration for Ralph Nader’s 1965 book, Unsafe At Any Speed, though the swing-axle rear suspension which caused its handling difficulties had been replaced by a far superior system the year before.

Several small European cars of the time shared the Corvair’s rear-engined layout, and one, the Hillman Imp (introduced in 1963) even bore some resemblance to the much larger Chevrolet, especially in quad-headlight form.

The Chevy II is one example among many of an uncomplicated, low-cost Chevrolet of the type favoured by William Durant. The first-generation model was launched in 1962, only 18 months after work began on its design.

The Nova name was used only for top-end versions until 1969. Chevy II was abandoned at that point, and from then until the fifth-generation front-wheel drive version was discontinued in 1988 were called Nova.

The Camaro is an early pony car (the term for compact, affordable North American coupes or convertibles with a sporty image). It was launched in 1966 - after a rapid development programme - as a competitor to the Ford Mustang, which had gone on sale two years earlier and become a sales smash.

Production came to an end after four generations in 2002 but resumed seven years later. The fifth generation, and to some extent the sixth, retain more of the original version’s muscular appearance than previous Camaros built from 1982 onwards.

The Chevelle was a successful mid-sized model produced in three generations (with many revisions) from 1964. It was available with many body styles including saloon, coupe, convertible and estate.

The Laguna variant was a very strong contender in NASCAR racing in the 1970s. Cale Yarborough won the title in both 1976 and 1977 with one of these. The nameplate was dropped in favour of Malibu one year later.

Initial response to the Vega was very positive when it appeared in 1970, but the car later received a lot of criticism for various problems which led to recalls and design changes. The Pontiac Astre was essentially a rebadged Vega, while the related Chevrolet Monza gave rise to the first-generation Buick Skyhawk, the second-generation Oldsmobile Starfire and the first-generation Pontiac Sunbird.

The most spectacular Vega was the Cosworth, which had a 2.0-litre 16-valve four-cylinder engine developed by the British engineering firm. Fast but very expensive, the Cosworth Vega was in production for only two model years, with around 3500 examples built.

Chevrolet launched the first-generation S10 compact pickup in 1981, and production continued until the end of the third generation in 2012. An S10 is still sold in South American markets, but this is a rebadged version of the Chevrolet Colorado.

A high-performance variant was produced in 1991, but not by Chevrolet. GMC developed a version of its related Somona pickup with a turbocharged 4.3-litre V6 engine and called it the GMC Syclone. In an independent test, the Syclone went from 0-60mph in just 4.3 seconds.

The first Tahoe SUV, introduced in 1995, was a variant of the 1992 GMC Yukon which was itself based on a shortened version of the platform used for the Chevrolet Suburban.

The Tahoe, Yukon and Suburban have been closely linked ever since. The current versions of all three went on sale in 2020. Other than their badges, the main difference is that the Tahoe and regular Yukon are 15 inches (381mm) shorter than the Suburban and Yukon XL.

First used in 1975 for a trim level in the third-generation Chevrolet C/K pickup truck range, Silverado became the name for the whole model in 1998.

Since then, Silverados have been divided into different categories. Currently, medium-duty versions are known as 1500, while heavy-duty ones are referred to as either 2500HD or 3500HD. The GMC variant is known as the Sierra.

The name of this front-wheel drive crossover (also available as a panel van) stands for Heritage High Roof. Notable for its retro styling, it was based on the same platform as the Chevrolet Cobalt compact sedan and was offered with 2.2-litre and 2.4-litre four-cylinder EcoTec engines or a more powerful turbocharged 2.0-litre.

The HHR bore some resemblance to the earlier PT Cruiser produced by GM’s long-time rival Chrysler – perhaps not coincidentally, both vehicles were designed by Bryan Nesbitt, who worked for both companies at different times. Officially, however, the inspiration for the HHR was the Advance Design truck series launched, as previously mentioned, in 1947.

The first-generation Volt was an electric car with an Opel-designed four-cylinder petrol engine used as a range extender. It was sold as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand, the Vauxhall Ampera in the UK and the Opel Ampera elsewhere in Europe.

Launched in 2010, it was replaced by a new and more efficient version in 2015. This was not available in Europe or Oceania due to low sales of the previous model, but it did appear in China as the Buick Velite. Production ended in 2019.

Designed largely by GM Korea (formerly known as Daewoo) the Cruze is a compact car which made its debut in 2008 and has been sold all over the world. A new version was launched in 2014, but production was halted five years later as GM moved away from sedans and towards SUVs and crossovers.

The first-generation Cruze was devastatingly successful in the World Touring Car Championship, winning four Drivers and three Manufacturers titles from 2010 to 2013. It also performed well in the British Touring Car Championship, winning the Drivers title in 2010.

The original Spark, launched in 2009, was the third generation of the subcompact hatchback first marketed as the Daewoo Matiz. Its replacement was introduced in 2015 and is still on sale now.

At the time of writing, the Spark is the cheapest new car on the US market. The entry-level model is $895 cheaper than the most basic version of the Mitsubishi Mirage, which is less powerful by 20bhp and has fewer airbags.

GM has announced that it intends to introduce 30 new all-electric vehicles worldwide by 2025. The only Chevrolet to meet that description at the moment is the Bolt EV crossover, which was revealed as a concept at the 2015 Detroit Show and went into production the following year.

An updated Bolt EV will go on sale in summer 2021, along with a slightly larger version called the Bolt EUV.

The first Malibu was a variant of the Chevrolet Chevelle introduced in 1964. The current model is the ninth-generation car to use that nameplate, and is based on the same platform as the Buick Regal, Cadillac XT4 and the European Vauxhall/Opel Insignia.

The Malibu is notable for being the only remaining Chevy sedan still on sale in the US and Canada. Following the global trend towards crossover, SUVs and, in many markets, pickup trucks, GM has brought production of the Cruze, Impala, Sonic and Volt to an end in recent years.

For decades, the idea of a Corvette with its engine anywhere other than under the bonnet would have seemed ridiculous. However, the eighth-generation version, which made its debut in early 2020, is the first car with that nameplate since 1953 to have a mid-engined layout.

At present, all Corvettes have a 483bhp 6.2-litre V8 engine, but other powertrains are on their way, including two petrol-electric hybrids. The hybrid models will be called E-Ray and Zora. The latter, named after “father of the Corvette” Zora Arkus-Duntov, is expected to go on sale in 2023 and have a power output of 1000bhp.

Chevrolet’s newest crossover (whose name was previously used for a larger SUV) made its debut in 2020. Sales have so far been modest, due to supply problems arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, but demand is high.

In fact, it’s so high that Chevrolet is cutting production of the Trax – another crossover of a much older design whose sales are high but declining – by 30 percent so that the GM Korea factory where it is manufactured can build more Trailblazers.

Now in its fourth generation, the Silverado pickup is the most successful vehicle currently produced not only by Chevrolet but by GM as a whole. Largely due to the popularity of the 1500 light-duty version, the Silverado accounted for 34 percent of Chevrolet sales and 23 percent of all GM sales in the US and Canada during 2020.

Even more impressively, if you include the GMC Sierra, which is essentially a Silverado with a different badge, the GM trucks (847,110 units) outsold the market-leading Ford F-Series (787,422 units) in the same period.