Chevrolet's smallest car in North America, until now, had been the miserable Daewoo-built Aveo.

But with ever-rising fuel prices and a demand for smaller cars, Chevrolet has decided to go even smaller, introducing the Spark for the 2013 model year. The Spark is simply the re-naming of Chevrolet's popular European/Asian model, the Matiz. The Matiz, originally a Daewoo product, became part of the Chevrolet lineup, when General Motors acquired bankrupt Daewoo motors in 2002 and Daewoos in Europe and other markets started becoming Chevrolets.

These sharp-edged Sparks are a nice departure from the more rounded, egg-like shapes of the pre-2009 Matiz models.

The Daewoo/Chevrolet Matiz used to be a very common sight in my drives throughout South Korea and Europe. Glad to soon see them on America's highways too.

And speaking of the Aveo, it has been refreshed into the Sonic as well. That, alongside the Spark and the Cruze, gives Chevrolet three small Daewoo-sourced cars, that are superior to anything previously produced by Chevrolet's stateside compact car designers, or by the old Daewoo. For the US market, the Spark is built in South Korea, while the Sonic and the Cruze are built stateside.