LORDSTOWN It's official: GM names car Cobalt

The new car coming to the Lordstown plant will be shown later this year.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
LORDSTOWN -- Chevrolet officially announced that the new car to be built at the Lordstown Assembly Plant will be called the Cobalt.
Carolyn Normandin, a company spokeswoman, said Chevrolet chose the name because market studies showed that young people associated the name with power, strength and dependability.
Chevrolet released a sketch of the car Tuesday. Normandin said the car will be shown in public later this year, though a date hasn't been set.
The Cobalt name hit the news a couple of weeks ago because car dealers were shown a test model of the car at an event in California. Chevrolet had withheld comment until Tuesday, when it announced the name to employees at the plant.
Cobalt is an element used in alloys to make cutting tools, jet engines and high-strength magnets. Cobalt chloride is used in a chemical process to make colors such as cobalt blue and cobalt yellow.
Corolla, Civic competitor
The Cobalt will be one step higher in Chevrolet's pecking order than the Chevrolet Aveo, which will be its entry-level car. The Aveo is due out early next year. It will be produced in Korea by the company created when General Motors bought the bankrupt Daewoo Motor Co.
Chevrolet is calling the Cobalt a premium small car that will compete against the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic.
Normandin said the Cobalt will be aimed at buyers who want the size and efficiency of a small car but with more upscale features and styling.
Pricing hasn't been announced.
The car is due out in the fall of next year as a 2005 model.
To prepare for the car, GM is spending more than $550 million to renovate and upgrade the assembly plant and adjacent fabrication plant. Structural steel for a new paint shop at the assembly plant is going up.
The 22-year-old Cavalier name is being retired. GM hasn't announced whether it will build a Pontiac at the plant as it does now with the Pontiac Sunfire. A newsletter from the fabrication plant said recently that a Pontiac version of the new model will be sold only in Canada, but it's not clear where that car will be produced.
shilling@vindy.com