The Daewoo Lanos is a compact hatchback / sedan car produced by the South Korean manufacturer Daewoo from 1997 to 2002, and thereafter produced under license agreements in various countries worldwide. It has also been marketed as the Daewoo Sens, ZAZ Sens and ZAZ Lanos in Ukraine, Doninvest Assol and ZAZ Chance in Russia, FSO Lanos in Poland, or Chevrolet Lanos in Ukraine, Russia, and Egypt.
It was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and initially featured three body styles: three-door and five-door hatchbacks and a four-door sedan. The Lanos was designated the T100 model code at launch; the T150 code applies to the updated models introduced in 1999. In 2006, a panel van version, produced in Ukraine by ZAZ, was also introduced. The Daewoo Lanos was designed to replace the Daewoo Nexia in the Daewoo line-up and was itself replaced by the Daewoo Kalos.
Production of the Daewoo Lanos ended in 2017.
Development
In 1992, Daewoo dissolved its joint-venture with General Motors, and simultaneously a decision was made to independently develop replacements for the contemporary Daewoo Motors products, based on older General Motors models. The Lanos development programme was formally started in autumn 1993, with the goal to create a car to replace Daewoo Nexia as Daewoo's small family car.
The project began with a comparative study of competing models from 20 different manufacturers, with Toyota Tercel, Opel Astra and Volkswagen Golf identified as most competitive. Four design studios were commissioned to deliver clay models presenting their ideas for the new model's styling. Giorgetto Giugiaro's design was chosen, and Italdesign was commissioned to develop the car's final outside and interior styling. The technical side of the project was conducted simultaneously by Daewoo's development center in South Korea, as well as suppliers and contractors who were involved in developing particular components. This included AC Rochester (engine components), Delco Chassis Division (brakes, including ABS), GM Powertrain (automatic transmission), Italdesign (body, structural analysis, electrics, prototype construction), PARS Passive Rückhaltesysteme GmbH (airbags) and Porsche (vehicle concept – research, structural analysis, suspension and brake components, and experimental production supervision). From March 2009, the updated version was called ZAZ Lanos (internal model T150). The engines were still supplied by GM Daewoo, although a Chinese-developed engine from Chery Automobile has been fitted and there were plans to build the 1.6 L engine at the MeMZ plant.
In 2005, General Motors contracted with ZAZ to provide Ukrainian-assembled Lanos models for the Ukrainian and Russian markets, to be imported duty-free, thanks to an international agreement, and sold through the GM dealer network. Sales of the Chevrolet Lanos sedan commenced in Russia in November 2005. The Chevrolet brand was utilized to compete effectively with the Renault Logan. From July 2009, it was marketed in Russia as ZAZ Chance.
In 2006, a panel van variant of the ZAZ Lanos was introduced. The vans were equipped with a 50 L LPG balloon on their roof.
At SIA-2007 in Kyiv ZAZ unveiled a facelifted Lanos with a Chinese engine. The concept was called ZAZ Lanos M and was planned to enter production in 2009 after finalizing the interior redesign. Eventually, all plans of refreshing the Lanos were cancelled.
In 2010 ZAZ showed an electric vehicle based on the ZAZ Lanos Pick-up called ZAZ Lanos Electro. It had a 15 kW motor and 8 batteries with approximately 100km of range. The concept was designed in collaboration with the NASU Institute of Electrodynamics in Kyiv. ZAZ planned to offer the model for custom assembly rather than serial production.
In 2013 the Lanos left the Russian market. On 29 November 2017 the assembly of passenger cars at ZAZ stopped. The panel van stayed in production until 2020.
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File:Шевроле Ланос.JPG|2006 Chevrolet Lanos (T150) sedan
File:ЗАЗ-Сенс.JPG|ZAZ Sens sedan (T150) (Ukraine)
File:ЗАЗ_Ланос-фургон.jpg|ZAZ Lanos Pick-up (based on ZAZ Lanos T150)
File:Back of the Daewoo car.jpg|ZAZ Lanos Pick-Up (based on ZAZ Lanos T150)
</gallery>
Egypt
In late 1998, the Daewoo Motor Egypt factory in Cairo started the assembly of the Daewoo Lanos in both four-door and five-door shells with the 1.5 SOHC engine. The hatchback version was called "Juliet". The four-door was available in two versions:
- The SX model which was fully loaded with all options plus an automatic transmission
- The S model that had A/C, power steering and radio cassette plus a manual transmission
The five-door version of the Lanos (AKA Juliet) came with full options as the SX trim but with manual transmission.
Near the end of 2000 the Lanos was introduced with a different rear-end design and a facelifted front (different front bumper and grill). It was called "Lanos II" in this particular market. An SE version came with all the options plus the manual transmission. The automatic transmission version was stopped shortly after the introduction of the "Lanos II".
Between mid-2000 and 2001 the factory produced an even more frugal four-door version of the Lanos II with no options at all but a cassette. Those were sold by the Egyptian ministry of defense to army officers with a decently low price compared to the car's value at that time.
The facelifting also included the five-door Juliet to have the same changes as the four-door version on the front but on the rear it only had a different tail-light design and bumper rather than a wholly different rear-end design like the sedan. The production of the Juliet stopped in 2005.
In November 2008, GM Egypt started producing the Chevrolet Lanos in 6th of October City, from Ukrainian-supplied kits.
Sales
Australia and North America
The Lanos was finally phased out after the 2002 model year, superseded worldwide by the Daewoo Kalos. Daewoo ceased operations in North America. After GM took over Daewoo to become GMDAT, Chevrolet began importing the Daewoo Kalos, rebadged as the Aveo, to North America beginning with MY 2004. However, the Lanos continues to be sold in Mexico and Latin America.
The 2001 and 2002 models follow a recent trend among cars intended to be sold in many markets, in that their rear lamps are asymmetric, with the fog lamp and reverse lamp occupying complementary spots on the driver's side and passenger side respectively; consequently, the rear lamps differ between left- and right-hand drive examples.
Ukraine
In Ukraine, the Lanos has been the best-selling car since at least 2006, and until 2014 (except 2012), being produced by the local manufacturer ZAZ under its own brand (starting from 2005). Over the years, 364,000 cars were bought in Ukraine. The production ended in 2017.
Europe: models received the following European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) 1998 ratings:
- Adult Occupant: , score 17
- Pedestrian: , score 11 (pre-2002 rating)
In crash tests conducted by ANCAP in 1998 to Euro NCAP protocols RHD Lanos 3dr hatchback showed poor performance, scoring 0.31 out of 16 in offset front crash test and 6.98 of 16 in side impact test.
Russian magazine Autoreview tested LHD Chevrolet Lanos T150 sedan built by ZAZ in 2006. It scored 10.5 of 16 points in offset front crash test.
References
External links
- Lanos & Sens homepage (Russian)
- Aboul Fotouh website (Arabic)
- Chevrolet Lanos website (Egypt)