GM: Delta! Delta! Delta! Can I Help Yah? Help Yah? Help Yah?

Automotive News is reporting that General Motors will unveil a Chevrolet compact car at an auto show this fall, with production slated to begin early next year. The vehicle will be built on the Delta compact car architecture at GM's plant in Lordstown, Ohio.

Piecing together various news stories, we should see the Delta car at the Paris show this fall where it should be shown as a replacement for the Chevrolet Lacetti. The Chevy should be about the same size as a Jetta.

I've discussed GM's "Delta II" platform before, but basically Detla II will spawn the following vehicles (amongst others):

Chevrolet Volt (E-Flex)
Minivan-like vehicle for Chevrolet in 2009
Seven passenger minivan that will replace the Opel Zafira
All-new Saturn Astra in 2009 or 2010
Daewoo-badged model for South Korea
Chevrolet for Europe
Premium Buick for China
Unnamed models for Africa and South America
Possible Saab model

The news from AN is that the car will use a new 1.4-liter global engine that GM developed and recently announced in Europe and will not be called Cobalt which will continue to be sold until June 2010 as a 2009 model in its current form.

The Chevrolet Beat minicar is getting closer and closer to approval for the US market and my sense is that it's pretty much a lock. I'd also like to remind you that Bob Lutz hinted at the LA show about the Groove, "Who knows, maybe we'll make that one as well." How close is the Groove? I don't have a sense on that, but given the current climate its chances could have only improved since last November.