Daewoo Matiz

The Daewoo Matiz is a city car produced by the South Korean automaker GM Daewoo that has been marketed worldwide since 1998. Available solely as a five-door hatchback with two engine configurations, and replacing the Daewoo Tico, the Matiz was originally designed by Italdesign Giugiaro and has been facelifted twice.
Notably, the Matiz was at the center of a 2006 international intellectual property rights controversy, its design allegedly copied outright by a Chinese manufacturer.
The Daewoo Matiz started production in 1998 and sold in South Korea and many European markets with the code name M100. The exterior design is based on the Lucciola, a Fiat Cinquecento concept by Italdesign Giugiaro which had been rejected by Fiat. The 0.8-litre gasoline engine and the transmission were carryovers from the Daewoo Tico. The car became the best selling Daewoo model in Europe for the next four years.
The Matiz is available in one body style: a five-door hatchback.
The Matiz is available with a 0.8 litre engine and a 1.0 litre engine.
A facelifted model (codenamed M150) was introduced in South Korea in late 2000, and exported from 2001. Following Daewoo’s takeover by General Motors in 2002, the engine range was updated with a 1.0-litre S-Tec unit.
In 2005 the Matiz received a facelift (M200), based on the Chevrolet M3X concept car shown at 2004 paris Motor Show. The S-Tec engines were updated and the car’s drag coefficient was lowered, resulting in better fuel economy. One notable feature of this car is its centre-mounted instrument cluster.
The aging Alto platform will be replaced with a new city car platform developed by GM Daewoo engineers and based on GM Gamma platform.
The 2005 Chevrolet Matiz scored three stars (with one strike through) in the EuroNCAp crash test: “The final adult occupant protection star is struck through because there was an unacceptably high risk of life-threatening injury to the chest in side impact.” test: “Overall this is a creditable performance from a car without a side airbag.” By contrast, the pre-2005 Daewoo Matiz was awarded 72% in the side impact Euro NCAp
In Europe, the Matiz is equipped with front seatbelt pretensioners, front seatbelt load limiters, driver and passenger frontal airbags and ISOfix rear anchorages.
Also marketed in China as the Chevrolet Spark, the Matiz has been at the center of an industrial rights controversy ever since a very similar car, the Chery QQ, had been introduced by local manufacturer Chery Automobile.
GM sued Chery, alleging piracy of the Spark design, and proving the extent of the copy in that the doors of the Chery car and Chevrolet Spark were completely interchangeable.
putting the controversy in important context, the Detroit News reported that “the dispute reflects the confusion, risks and ambitions in China’s new auto industry, where global carmakers are battling pugnacious upstarts for a piece of what may become the world’s largest auto market.”
In 1999, the Matiz sold in Japan dropped the Chevrolet badge, stopped being distributed and marketed by Suzuki Motor Corporation and took the Daewoo marque.