Chevrolet Trax may arrive as Holden

And Australia could be one of the markets, with Holden saying they are looking at the car very closely to slot in under the Captiva 5 and Captiva 7. 

The Korean-designed Trax SUV was first seen at New York motor show in 2007 along with two other GM-Daewoo concepts, the Beat and Groove.

At the time, GM had the public vote on which should be built, and the Beat won out – but the Trax has now been given the green light. The baby SUV, which in New York carried a 1.0-litre petrol engine, hasn’t been completely out of the public eye. It had a supporting role in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009 as the vehicle mode for the Autobot, Mudflap.

Based on the platform for the Aveo, which we see here as the Holden Barina, the Trax has a chance of coming to Australia with a Holden badge, although a Holden spokesperson said there was no commitment at the moment.  

"It looks like a very exciting product and we going to be taking a very close look at it," the spokesperson said. "The compact SUV market is increasing in popularity, and we have several SUV models -- Captiva 5, Captiva 7 and the larger coming Colorado. So a small SUV makes a lot of sense."

Chevrolet says the Trax will allow the brand to enter the booming smaller end of the SUV field. "Trax provides Chevrolet an entry into a growing small SUV segment and delivers the flexibility, great fuel economy and car-like handling that urban explorers require," Chevrolet Europe managing director Susan Docherty said. Trax will start rolling out into European showrooms in the second quarter of 2013.