New Holden Barina spied
June 27, 2008 by George Skentzos
2008 Holden Barina spied
The upcoming Holden Barina facelift has been spied on the streets of Sydney – and it looks very happy to say the least.
Recently released in Europe as the Chevrolet Aveo, the new Barina is the creation of General Motor’s Korean design team.
The exterior changes are more than obvious, sporting a completely new front end design with new headlights, grille and bumper.
The new Barina is expected to make its official Australian debut in the coming weeks.
Source: PressPortal.com.au
Print it: 
Still looks like the original Daewoo sheet metal but with a Skoda-looking grille. Still a two-star Euro NCAP then? Maybe three, because it seems as if some work has gone into the front end.
Good luck guys, you’ll need it.
it does look like a skoda roomster!!!
That front looks terrible, I wouldn’t exactly say ‘new’ Barina, as it is just an updated, facelifted version of the current one.
Looks like crap, made like crap, designed like crap.
Just compare it in any way to a Honda Jazz.
gods! im so excited. coming in weeks….can’t wait.
Yay! More cheap Korean crap to finally kill off any reminder of the old Opels that actually gave the Barina a good name back in the day.
Kinda looks like the front of an Opel Vectra mixed with Skoda and a little bit of new Corolla…?
Poor Holden. Their ads state “that every time we make a new one, we have to make it better” surely that doesn’t apply to the re-badged Daewoo’s or thats false advertising on their part. Now before I get any negative comments, there is a ‘Barina’ in the ads not only the Commodore. Pathetic Holden, Pathetic!!!
I don’t think anyone who knows anything about cars (and reads this website) would buy one.
Target audience for buyers is the Big W or Safeway catalog…
The new barina must be selling well, i’ve seen heaps of them on the street
o wait
Holden that thing is a disgrace to a good badge.
OMG !!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLDENWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
THIS LOOKS TERRIBLE, ANOTHER 2 STAR ANCAP, REBADGED DAEWOO, PIECE OF JUNK…………….
Hideous travesty, Holden. You should withdraw this piece of junk from the market rather than persist.
Shame, shame, shame.
It doesnt look high class. It doesnt look modern. It looks like one of those cheap chinese cars.
it must be good if they say it is!!
Reminds me of the very first Hyundai’s….cheap and nasty!!
Holden said its gonna compete with the other small cars this new Barina is just cheap korean car.
Whats worse is that Holden said its going to continue the Viva/Epica instead of the Brilliant new Insignia.
Nice move Holden :erg:
I have to say I don’t think it looks bad, kind of looks like a modernised spiritual successor to the Barina that used to be sold as the Suzuki something or other. Maybe I’m just nostalgic at the moment. Dash looks fairly modern and interesting for a cheap small car.
Having said that, I wouldn’t drive one because it probably is a death trap. I’ll stick with the near-2 tonne VE Calais in my driveway thanks :-)
To put it this way, it looks better! So does the interior!
Despite what people think, consumers do listen to reviews.
And they prefer cars that are dynamically sorted, and most importantly safe.
Totally agree to the first comment you posted Tom! :D
Drivers at this end of the market are only looking for the cheapest car available. Maybe if holden knocked of another $1000 off there price (drive away) and/or offered a 5 year warranty they would sell alot more.
Is this the same as the Vauxhall Agila which is the same as the Suzuki Splash. built in hungary i believe. Not sure
gotta check out the vauxhall .co .uk website.
Nah its not. The Agila is far more stylish.
Holden get it wrong again. Destined to become a minority car supplier.
No Name, your onto something but i dont think you realise it. Holden should import the Vauxhall Agila. Its looks great, its incredibly practical, its safe, its not bad to drive and its got a diesel option! And it could still start at about 15 thousand! Not bad really…
Tom,
Yes people do read reviews….but…..usually the wrong ones – Of course there will be plenty of main-stream reviews that will applaud this piece of junk because it is a Holden and therefore somehow related to some lost icon of Aussie motoring history.
Putting some lipstick isn’t going to fix the inherent flaws of this vehicle. Unsafe by today’s standards and also not very economical in its class, though by no means the most powerful either… Cheap quality, outdated design, etc.
The only thing going for it is price and it’s actually not that big of a margin. Besides, I remember it was actually in the $12,XXX for about a month until Holden canned it for some reason.
Sorry Holden, but this is nothing more than just another unsafe Korean tin can & you know it. Congratulations on failing the market again.
I would prefer to buy a second hand hyundai getz than even consider the barina!
actually on second thoughts… i would not feel ashamed driving a Nissan Micra, but i would definitely feel ashamed driving this Barina!!!
^I’d rather buy a a second hand XC Barina.
I can’t believe people actually buy these 2 star Barina’s and don’t even know the origin, let me spell it out D_A_E_W_O_O from korea, come on there are better car’s in this category even used is a better option..
Another heap of Holden crap………
Duck,
I’d rather buy a real car.
one where you have leg room, power and safety.
dont ask me why people are flocking to small rice burners period, let alone shocking examples of them.
and dont give me the fuel economy angle because it still wont sway me there for the saving of 2-3L/100k
I rather an E-Gas Falcon any day. This Barina looks cod ordinary and is sad as – Aussie design keeps the lid firmly on last boring bland look as same same Daewoo joke!
Ford figures show that an E-Gas Falcon uses $350 less fuel then a “MUCH SMALLER AND NARROWER” Toyota Corolla over 12months and about 25,000kms! Also produces 4% less emissions then a 6 cyclinder Falcon petrol 4.0litre. And think of all that “HUGE BOOT” space compared to the Toyota Corolla!
Right on NM
be buggered if ill ever settle for half a car
Yeah where’s all the all-Aussie Holden fanboy’s now?
The car is starting to show it’s age – the old school door handles are a give-away (although the Honda Jazz still has the same style handles and it looks relatively modern). To the person who praised the Spanish-built Barina – they
were a step down from the Japanese-built Barinas – the early models had very shoddy paintwork that faded easily, and were terribly underpowered (remember the 1.2L!?). I’m not defending the Daewoo, just saying that the Spanish Barina was nothing special either.
Hey Robbo, VW Golf driver and closet Holden fan here. I grew up with Holdens, after all.
These cars cause pain and embarassment. No fan boy in his right mind is going to trumpet these.
Holden please bring back the Corsa and make it the Barnia again :)
This doesnt look good from any angle really.
The small cars the Japs have come up with more than a decade ago are way better than this one!
I agree with you Atomic SS-V, bring back the rebadge Corsa and restore some pride Holden!
Very sad. I can’t believe Holden continues to release such crap cars! Do they think people are stupid?
So much money spend on the looks of the car and no thought about safety whats so ever.
I have no doubt the chassis of the car remain unchanged and it will still be a death trap!
Stay away people!!!
To those who are saying it will have a 2 or 3 star ANCRAP rating. The specifications have not been announced yet so no one can say anything yet. For all you knoe ESP maybe standard on it as could 6 airbags. Those 2 changes could be enough to improve its safety rating. Holden are know for upping the ante when it comes to safety so do not judge it until all is known about it. It may still only be a 2 star but wait until all specs are announced. If the Corsa makes it over as well which is possible or the next generation Corsa is built in South Korea it will be great, and from what I hear the new Epica will be based off the Insignia built in South Korea so the same could be said about the Barina/Corsa. All will come out in the not to distant future.
The Ford’s tiny festiva looks nice and decent.
This one looks cheap rubish…
Fiesta, Tomas79.
NO NO NO!!!!!! WHEN WILL IT STOP?????!!!!!
This is worse than the original daewoo. can we skip back and think about the xc barina for a minute……..
How can a car company let their product go backwards??????
Pathetic effort. This is the worst can you can buy… FULL STOP!
There’s plenty of 2003 Daewoo Kaloses for sale on the internet. Presumably, 2003 was their release year.
Now, five years later, Holden are about to serve up a re-grilled, re-dashed and re-tail lamped version to last for…how long? 18 months? 2 years?
Let it die, Holden.
To be fair to Holden, this pathetic facelift has been locked in for quite some time do Mark Reuss wouldn’t have had time to influence this release apart from minor spec changes.
I get the feeling he is definitely not happy with current Daewoo products. It’s the next Barina about 2-3 years away which will tell us if Holden has come to its senses or not.
^We would see the all new Barina as early as next year, GM are trying to get the vehicle ready ASAP.