Spy Shot Holden Barina

It's not confirmed by Fishermans Bend, and it's not hitting until the middle of next year at the earliest, but it's definitely Holden's next small car. Actually, it's one of two Holden small cars as the company plans to have a Barina and a Spark to help combat the growing threat from cheap Chinese imports.

This Barina, caught by Carparazzi, is actually a Chevrolet Aveo prototype. But, as Holden said at the Detroit Motor Show earlier this year, the Aveo is the Barina.

Detroit was the scene for the unveiling of the Aveo RS concept car, a thinly disguised production car, and it's likely the bodywork under the test-car cladding caught by Carparazzi is very similar. The Aveo is testing in the USA which explains why a wild turkey feather is attached to the car's antenna in one of the pictures.

The Barina is built on General Motors' latest global mechanical platform, called Gamma II, and there are expected to be both five-door hatch and four-door sedan body styles. A 1.4-litre engine will be the basic powerplant.

The Aveo goes into production in the USA at GM's Orion Township factory at the beginning of 2011, which points to Holden production at Daewoo in Korea around the middle of the year for local deliveries in the second half of next year.