Chevrolet took the wraps off the new Montana in South America today, where it arrives as a comfortable small truck offering a more crossover-like experience to prospective customers. That cuts both ways, though, because the vehicle comes with just one engine option (a 1.2-liter three-cylinder) and no AWD option. Chevrolet says it was focused on delivering a good acceleration-to-fuel economy ratio with the 2023 Montana, which is why it chose the 1.2-liter Turbo Flex engine as its only option. The three-cylinder makes 133 hp and 210 Nm of torque.
The engine works particularly well at low
revs, according to the automaker, making it ideal for this application. It
hasn’t yet revealed how fast it can get to 100 km/h but has revealed
that it returns 31.2 MPG on the highway and 26.1 MPG in the city (7.5/9.0 L/100
km). Unlike its competition, though, no AWD system is available as yet, though
buyers can choose from either a manual or an automatic six-speed transmission.
The new Montana is more than anything a
lifestyle truck, and the company claims it’s the “SUV you need, the pickup you
dreamed of.” Measuring in at roughly 15 feet long and 6 feet wide (4.5×1.8
meters), it offers best-in-class space for second-row passengers. It also gets
six airbags, blind spot alert, swanky LED headlights, digital air conditioning,
parking sensors, a backup camera, push-button start, wireless smartphone
charging, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, OnStar, and built-in WiFi, making it
a rather luxurious little truck. The bed can hold 874 liters of
stuff and the truck can haul nearly half its own weight, but Chevy says that it
wasn’t primarily focused on maxing out specs.
The new Montana features bed separators,
making it more practical to carry everything from groceries to furniture, to
piles of dirt. Chevrolet also made sure to provide best-in-class protection
against dust and water in the cabin, for a more comfortable experience, even
when you’re using the Montana as a pickup truck.
As the latest member of Chevy’s so-called
“global vehicle family,” the new unibody Montana shares its underpinnings with
the Onix, the Onix Plus, and the Tracker. Chevrolet says that it is now taking
orders for the 2023 Montana in Brazil with a base price of 134,490 Brazilian
real (US$ 25,895).
