Despite the company's overwhelming presence in the film, including a Chevy Beat or Chevy Spark or whatever, Camaro and a Corvette Stingray Concept, the company has decided not to buy a large amount, if any, commercial time with advertisements connecting their products to the movie. Especially as the movie is essentially one long GM commercial. There are two main factors at work here:

1.) GM's slashing its marketing budget by $800 million in 2009. There simply isn't the same pool of marketing dollars the company had back in 2007, when the original Transformers launched.

2.) GM is predictably gun-shy after plane-gate and the Citibank/Mets deal left many wondering if the new Mets Stadium should be called "Taxpayer Field" while the company takes a bailout.

This move reduces the impact Chevy might get out of the launch of the 2010 Chevy Camaro and may increase the burden on Paramount to fork over dollars to support their expensive blockbuster. Maybe Optimus Prime or a strategic use of web advertisement can save them. It'd certainly save us. Optimus Prime that is. We love a long-nosed semi, what can we say.

[via Ad Age]

The new Chevy Spark will debut at the Geneva Motor Show alongside a full range of Delta II-platformed vehicles like the Chevy Cruze. But for microcar buyers, there will be only one darling on the stand. The Spark will be introduced with a four cylinder 1.0 liter fuel sipper and a snarling 1.2 liter performance model. It will also show off what looks to be a segment first "respectable" interior — we'll of course have to see such a thing to believe it ourselves. Check out the press release and video below.

CHEVROLET AT THE GENEVA MOTOR SHOW 2009
* All-new Chevrolet Spark makes world debut
* Four-door Cruze range unveiled

There's a Spark promising to light up this year's Geneva Motor Show, and it's to be found on the Chevrolet stand.

The company's all-new mini car goes on sale in Europe later this year and is the latest interpretation of Chevrolet's new global design strategy. As well as Europe, the car will be sold in the USA, India and other core markets, where its compact dimensions and vibrant good looks will appeal to customers.

Powered by a choice of fuel-efficient 1.0 and 1.2-litre petrol engines, the five-door Spark has a distinctive, angular cabin that matches its bold exterior styling – a look that is designed to appeal to young and mature drivers alike.

The head-turning design will be complemented by outstanding passenger space, entertaining driving characteristics and, of course, Chevrolet's tradition for providing extraordinary value for money.

The Geneva show, which is open to the public from March 5-20, will also see the entire Chevrolet Cruze range appearing for the first time. The new four-door saloon was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October, and is set to go on sale in the UK in July 2009.

Available with a choice of 1.6 or 1.8-litre petrol engines, plus a 2.0-litre diesel, the Cruze promises excellent dynamics, passenger comfort and build quality, yet will remain a great value for money car in the true Chevrolet mould.

Prices and exact UK specifications will be announced closer to the car's on sale date.[Source: GM]

The Transformers forum fan-boys at TFW2005 found a new Activision website for the inspired-by-Transformers-2 video game. The front page of the new game site features a shot of the robot modes for the Chevy Spark and Trax. Frankly, they both look like hicks. Ghetto hicks, but yes, hicks. Seriously, look at the sleepy eye and bored, folded-over arms. I half expect the Chevy Spark (also known as Skids in the movie) to be sitting back in a rocking chair on a porch, hat on head, and a piece of straw in its mouth. Maybe a banjo sitting next to him. What say you?
[Activision via TFW2005]

The car-snapping shooters who picked up the shots of the Beat claim design of the production Beat is very close to the concept, but Chevrolet added a pair of rear doors to make it easier to get in and out in the back seat. We're also told the engine range may still be unknown, but claim the new 1.2-liter S-TEC II with chain-driven 16 valve DOHC valvetrain and variable intake geometry will be one option. Another option will be the choice of automatic or manual gearbox. Head on over to NextAutos for the full show. [NextAutos]

We thought we had all the new vehicles already figured out for Michael Bay's next GM-gasm — Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Turns out there are still a few secrets to suss out as a Chevy Trax was spotted running chest to chest with the Chevy Beat moments after the the Bumblebee/Chevy Trax chase shot we saw earlier. Obviously we have no idea which robo-character this little fella will be playing — hey, maybe all the minicars will join together to form Voltron, and we'll have a crazy giant fighting robot crossover movie! (Again, thanks go out to Rueben)

The hotted up 2010 Chevy Camaro SS version of Bumblebee was snapped either running from, or leading whatever 'bot the Chevy Beat will be playing on the set of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen today in Philadelphia. Hopefully they don't run into the NYC 2009 Renault Laguna Coupe, because we're pretty sure the Renault would be a Decepticon, and nobody wants to see giant transforming robots fight. Oh wait. (Thanks Rueben)

What's particularly interesting about the Beat and the Aero-X is that both will be the second and third high-profile concept vehicles to be used in the filming, the first being the Hummer HX. Rumor suggests the Aero-X will play the role of Wheeljack, and while there's no word on what role the Chevy Beat will be playing, we can safely assume it'll be a small one... *rimshot* [TFW2005; TFW2005]

I took some pics of these 2 sweet lotuses and some other cool stuff in my area - Burnaby just outside vancouver BC .. There is a mazda eunos and 2 honda beats at that one guys house.. He must do some importing I guess.

It's a slow Saturday – especially after huffing down a Rose Street Burger at Mo's across the street from Bob's Big Boy – so we're digging through the flash drive that GM gave us last night. Curiously, included with PR gunk stuff about the Camaro Convertible and Holden EFIJY concepts are these pics plus a press release for the tiny Chevy Beat.You might remember this diminutive Chevrolet from such auto shows as Christmas Ape Goes to Summer Camp New York, which means you may also remember the Beat's two siblings, Trax and Groove. And those cars are suspiciously absent from the $5.99 flash drive, which obviously means something!! Though Automobile is stating this month that the Beat is most likely bound for Europe while we in the US would get the SUV-i-er Groove. All we know for sure is that the press release quotes Injo Kim, the Beat's designer, as saying, "Every morning when you wake up, you yearn to be a hero that day." Anyhow, enjoy the bikini pics; we're just rumor-mongering over here. – Jonny Lieberman

Related:
New York Auto Show: Chevrolet's Minicars — Which One Should They Build? [Internal]

Ok, not really, but the few flakes we did see yesterday outside the Javits Center as we left another New York Auto Show were significantly more than those I saw during the 60-degree-plus temperatures we had in Detroit during the LA Auto Show. But because that didn't stop Times freelancer Jerry Garrett from making the claim a few months back that we were suffering from a cold and snowy blizzard, we figure we'd return the favor of tossing this inaccuracy out there, mostly because it would seem we've found Jerry pitting yet another set of auto shows into a competition. Except this time, he's being Manhattan-centric instead of fluffing up the West Coast.

"As in any beauty pageant, contestants will be judged on their personality, poise, performance and sex appeal. Think of New York as the final elimination round in a series of competitions over the last four months at auto shows in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago and Geneva. The winners here advance to the true test: the showroom floors of America's car dealerships."

..."show of shows," with Detroit, LA, Chicago and Geneva the prequels and New York playing the role of final arbiter of what's good enough to show up on dealer lots here in the land of the red, white n' blue. That must explain why he included the Dodge Demon and Chevy Trax, Beat and Groove in his top twelve list — all of which are global concept cars. Those are cars which won't be showing up state-side anytime soon. Maybe it's not so much that the New York Auto Show is the "final elimination round" in his alleged show-of-shows comparison, but maybe it's just a really small and not-so-important show. Somehow we feel like that's all right for Jerry, a man we're convinced truly believe it when people tell him something is a "really good size." – Ray Wert

Related:
Hi, I'm Jerry Garrett: New York Times Now On YouTube [internal]

It's 10:46pm California time as I sit down to write this. But I'm not in San Pedro. I'm somewhere near Saint Marks Place in New York City, and the only sounds in the room are the tapping of two Apple keyboards and the rattling dull whine of air filters sucking the cigarette smoke out of the air of a spacious loft replete with a machine gun and a glass-encased model of the Bismarck. On the chairs at the bar hang three jackets, with a black, non-descript number in the middle. To its left is a navy blue Red Kap work jacket with a lakes modified roadster screenprinted across the back, reading "GEARHEAD." To its right hangs a high-visibility orange example sporting a rearing horse patch on the sleeve denoting a foreign police agency.

The night before, I'd been talking to Wert at the Manhattan Classic Car Club. In classic fashion, he looked out the window only to see a man in that same jacket smoking a cigarette and began to mildly panic. "Davey. Davey! I think the fire marshal is here!"

"Ray," I replied, "That's not the fire marshal. That's Alex Roy."

For the last few months, I've been helping the longtime friend of (and occasional contributor to) tha Jalop whack his upcoming memoir into shape. He swears he's finishing the last two chapters tonight. I swear I'm going to get this draft of "Fast as a Shark" done before I rest, despite being entirely sleep-deprived.

Coming off of a lackluster New York Auto Show, Alex's Polizei jacket and my Gearhead jacket hanging there as we attempt to tell stories worthy of publication, got me thinking about the contrasts between circumstances that create the awesome and ones that contribute to the black hole of suck.

For my money, best part of the New York show was the Taxi 07 exhibit, featuring the RIDES Crown Vic hi-riser, the Smart Design Kia Rondo cab concept, and the ungainly-yet-fascinating Standard Taxi. Being a California boy, I've never had much use for taxis, even in San Francisco. In New York, when one is pressed for time or has a bat's chance on Saturn of immediately grasping the lay of the land and figuring out bus and subway routes, cabbing it is simply a fact of life. But even for non-New Yorkers, the yellow cars are a symbol of what's regarded by many as a town to rival the Londons, Parises and Romes of the world, and indeed in the production of items of cultural import for both export and consumption at home, its only true rival is Los Angeles.

On the other hand, it's a telling thing when your auto show's only truly fantastic booth is one celebrating something that's basically a workaday appliance — something willingly admitted by the Standard Taxi representative to Spinelli and I yesterday.

Otherwise? North American premieres of exciting vehicles we'd seen unveiled at other major auto shows; Johan de Nysschenn using derivatives of "precise" too many times (I'm beginning to think Audi execs do this just for exposure on this site), Emil Rensing, Spinelli and I spending too much time speaking in German accents and Subaru's unveiling of the most uninspired-looking WRX in the marque's storied history.

The best parts were ancillary. The night I arrived, Herr Roy and I exposed two young bucks to the glory of Rendezvous and watched their minds enlarge in real time. Bumbeck and I had a nice chat with an incredibly drunk girl during a frigid walk to a bar where Black Flag's "TV Party" blaring from the outside speakers enticed us to stop in. We listened to elder statesman of the profession David E. Davis orate and pontificate and had a guffaw-riddled end-of-press-days chat with the Autoblog boys. Of course, best of all was finally hooking up with Krucoff, Dana of #1 Hit Song fame, Jeff Musical, The Highly Official Phillip A.V. McCarthy and the rather dashing Larry Forney.

In short, the awesome in New York was to be found in the human stories; the stories behind the carbon-based life-forms behind the cars; behind those who sell and market the cars and those who drive the cars. Ostensibly, the recent auto show season has been about rethinking cars. But the overarching subcurrent in New York seems to be that the automakers have currently thought themselves into a corner and are looking for a way out. Oddly enough my two favorite reveals at New York were the Chevy minicar triplets and Ford's Flex family hauler. The last Chevy concept that excited me was the SSR, a car that never should gone into production. But if freaking Chevrolet can come up with designs as fresh, interesting and exciting as the Beat, the Trax and the Groove, it could well mean that the bar is about to move again. Dear Titans of Industrial Might: stop trying to make the people drink and instead sing a siren song to lure them to the water. I say this to the automakers, in the spirit of the words of the mighty D. Boon: Get your hands in there and feel what the awesome is all about!

Thanks for listening. Sorry we told you we'd see you next Wednesday last Wednesday. But really, we'll see you next Wednesday next Wednesday. – Davey G. Johnson

"Fast as a Shark" is a weekly electronic broadside aimed at what has been historically right and terribly wrong with the autmotive industry and culture. And yes, when we once had had a diminutive German metal singer as our IM icon, a drunken friend thought he was talking to Alex Roy.

Related:
Fast as a Shark: Cannibalism in Pursuit of the Elusive Awesome [Internal]

We took a look at the three minicars Chevrolet unwrapped at the New York show: The Beat, Groove and Trax. All three are smaller than a jar of cornishons, but each one follows a distinctive style path. The Beat is a sporty hatch, not far from Chevy's WTCC concept; the Trax sports "active lifestyle" pretensions; and the Groove is the European urbo-hipster finished in a trendy matte coat and wearing the new face of Chevy. Chevrolet is taking its own poll on which of the three US car buyers like the most, at www.vote4chevrolet.com. But since our own polling indicates Jalopniks are not so into corporate polling, we're doing a poll of our own. Which one would you buy if you were considering a minicar. Comment in the comments, natch. – Mike Spinelli

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Related:
New York Auto Show: Chevy Leverages The Sexual Appeal Of Faux Hipsters, Reveals Trio Of Minicars; GM Releases Info on Minicar Concepts for Real [internal]