Chevy prices Sonic

DETROIT (AP):General Motors said Friday that pricing for its new Chevrolet Sonic will start at just under US$15,000 when the sub-compact car hits dealer lots this fall.

Base models of the 2012 Sonic will start at $14,495 including the destination charge, but excluding tax, title, licence and dealer fees. Its standard equipment includes 10 airbags, power door locks, remote keyless entry and 15-inch alloy wheels. The car will come in both sedan and hatchback body styles.

The Sonic will be built at a plant in Orion Township, Michigan, near Detroit, where last year the United Auto Workers union agreed to expand use of a lower second-tier wage in order to entice General Motors Co to bring production of the Sonic to the plant. About 40 per cent of the union workers there will be paid about half the US$28 per hour wage of long-time UAW workers.

The wage agreement saved roughly 1,500 jobs that probably would have gone to Mexico. But some UAW members were not pleased, saying the deal was one more in a long list of concessions that the union has made to a now profitable auto company.

No other car company builds a subcompact in the US because the profit margins are too low to cover the higher labour costs. The Orion Township plant also will build the Buick Verano, a luxury version of the Chevrolet Cruze compact.