Geo Metro

In short

• Built from 1989 to 2001, first by Suzuki in Japan and from 1990 by CAMI Automotive, the 50–50 GM–Suzuki joint venture in Ingersoll, Ontario; the last car was a red sedan built on 26 April 2001.
• Two generations: 1989–1994 (three- and five-door hatchback, convertible) and 1995–2001 (three-door hatchback and four-door sedan).
• Engines: 993 cc three-cylinder with 45 kW (60 hp), 37 kW (49 hp) in the XFi; 1.3-litre four with 52 kW (70 hp), later 59 kW (79 hp).
• In a July 2009 Car and Driver test a 1998 Metro tied the Toyota Prius at 42 mpg (5.6 l/100 km).

Geo Metro at a glance

Geo Metro generations

First generation (1989–1994). Suzuki started building the first Metro at its Hamamatsu plant in late 1988, and the car went on sale in 1989. The Suzuki Cultus article names Suzuki's Kosai plant as the Japanese source. CAMI began production in late 1989 and made 660 cars in its first year; from 1990 all North American M-cars came from Ingersoll. Japan still supplied the convertibles and the Canadian sedans, and CAMI never reached its planned capacity.

Second generation (1995–2001). The new car used an adapted version of the longer-wheelbase Cultus platform. In the United States the sedan replaced the five-door hatchback. The sedan and coupé bodies were 20 % and 5 % stiffer than the previous five-door and coupé. The drag coefficient was 0.32. At its launch the Metro was the smallest car in the world to meet the 1997 North American side-impact standard. It was also the second GM car in the US to offer daytime running lights, after the 1995 Chevrolet Corsica.

Engines, transmissions and performance

The 1.0-litre engine with throttle-body injection was the last engine of its kind sold in the United States. OBD-II diagnostics arrived in 1996 at some cost in economy. Hagerty lists a five-speed manual as standard and an automatic as an option for the 2000 car. Its figure of 58 lb-ft equals about 79 Nm.

Fuel economy and running costs

The XFi made up less than 10 % of Metro sales and was dropped in 1994. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranked the Metro and Swift as the two greenest petrol vehicles in its 1998 and 1999 lists. When fuel prices rose in 2008, used Metros were suddenly in demand. In Car and Driver's July 2009 test of economy cars, a base 1998 Metro hatchback matched the Toyota Prius at 42 mpg. It finished third overall behind the Honda Insight and the Prius, losing seven points for its lack of equipment. The Prius story is in our article on the Toyota Prius generations. Use the fuel cost calculator to turn these figures into a running cost.

Dimensions and interior space

These figures from the Suzuki Cultus article apply to the second-generation Cultus family. The Geo Metro article lists 4,166 mm for the US sedan without further detail. In the three-door hatchback, the second generation gained rear legroom, from 29.8 in to 32.8 in (757 to 833 mm), and front headroom, from 37.8 in to 39.1 in (960 to 993 mm). Front legroom stayed at 42.5 in (1,080 mm). The size comparison tool shows how small that is next to a current supermini.

Safety

The second-generation Metro had dual front airbags, a safety cage with front and rear crumple zones, five structural crossbars, steel side-impact beams in the doors and optional anti-lock brakes. English Wikipedia lists NHTSA crash-test headings for the car but gives no star ratings, so none are quoted here.

Sales, twins and buyers

The Metro was sold under several names. The Suzuki Swift was its three-door twin in North America from 1995 to 2000. The Pontiac Firefly was the Canadian version in three-door and four-door form from 1995 to 2000. Canadian production of the Swift, Metro and Firefly peaked at more than 100,000 cars a year and fell to 32,000 in 2000. Chevrolet and Geo sold 88,700 Metros in the US in 1996 and 55,600 in 1997.

At the 1995 launch, 41 % of buyers were buying their first car, 62 % were women and the median buyer was 37. In 2000 the window sticker of a Chevrolet Metro at a Torrance, California, dealer read US$11,140, according to Hagerty. Suzuki's side of the story is in our history of Suzuki.

The end of the Metro and its legacy

For 2001 only the four-door LSi sedan was sold in the US, and GM said the Metro would not return for 2002. CAMI built the last one, a red sedan, on 26 April 2001. The Chevrolet Aveo replaced it from the 2004 model year, alongside the Pontiac Wave and the Suzuki Swift+.

The Metro has had a long second life. Solectria of Massachusetts converted about 500 Metros of 1996–1997 into electric cars, the Solectria Force and EV, using bodies supplied by GM. Cornell's 100+ MPG team used one in 2007, and Clay Pitkin turned another into a salt-flat racer in 2012. In 2010 the artist Cai Guo-Qiang hung nine Chevrolet Metros in the air for the Biennale of Sydney. The rest of the brand is in the Geo catalogue.

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