It’s the End of the Line for the Chevrolet Sonic
The Chevrolet car lineup is shrinking again, and this time it’s the Sonic that’s on the chopping block.
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General Motors announced last week that it will soon end production for the Chevrolet Sonic, a subcompact model available as either a sedan or a hatchback.
Sonic production will end this fall at GM’s plant in Orion Township, Michigan. Once the Sonic is phased out, the facility will transition to producing all-electric vehicles like the Chevrolet Bolt and a soon-to-be-introduced crossover.
According to GM, there’s just not enough demand out there anymore for small cars like the Sonic. In its best year, 2015, the Sonic sold more than 93,000 units. By 2019, though, annual sales plummeted to less than 14,000, and they’re on pace to fall even further this year.
The Sonic’s struggles aren’t unique. Car sales in general have dropped dramatically in recent years as trucks, SUVs, and crossovers have risen in popularity. In response, GM has already discontinued Chevy sedans like the Cruze, the Impala, and the Volt from its lineup while beefing up its SUV offerings. With the Sonic’s departure, the only (non-sports) car models left in the Chevy lineup are the Spark, the Malibu, and the Bolt.
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The Sonic began its life in the 2012 year as a replacement nameplate for the new second-generation Chevrolet Aveo. It received a facelift for the 2017 model year but hasn’t been significantly updated since then.
Despite its low price, small size, and soon-to-be-discontinued status, the Sonic is a high-quality vehicle. Just last month, it took the No. 1 spot in the 2020 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study — not just in its small-car segment, but among every model that was analyzed. And in 2019, J.D. Power honored the Sonic as America’s most dependable small car.
With the Sonic’s end looming, quality-conscious and value-seeking buyers have just a few months left to snap up a new version of this model before it disappears from the scene.
A longtime editor/writer and recently transplanted Hoosier, Caleb Cook lives in Xenia, Ohio. His favorite activities are reading and listening to music, although he occasionally emerges from the heap of books and vinyl records in his basement to stand blinking in the sunlight. Once fully acclimated to the outside world again, he can be observed hanging out with his wife, attempting a new recipe in the kitchen, attending movies, walking the dog, or wandering into a local brewery to inquire about what’s on tap. See more articles by Caleb.