2023 Chevy Montana Small Pickup For South America Debuts With Lots Of Interior Comfort, But No AWD

Chevrolet took the wraps off the new Montana in South America today, where it arrives as a comfortable small truck offering a more crossover-like experience to prospective customers. That cuts both ways, though, because the vehicle comes with just one engine option (a 1.2-liter three-cylinder) and no AWD option.

Chevrolet says it was focused on delivering a good acceleration-to-fuel economy ratio with the 2023 Montana, which is why it chose the 1.2-liter Turbo Flex engine as its only option. The three-cylinder makes 133 hp (99 kW/135 PS) and 155 lb-ft (210 Nm) of torque.

The engine works particularly well at low revs, according to the automaker, making it ideal for this application. It hasn’t yet revealed how fast it can get to 62 mph (100 km/h) but has revealed that it returns 31.2 MPG on the highway and 26.1 MPG in the city (7.5/9.0 L/100 km). Unlike its competition, though, no AWD system is available as yet, though buyers can choose from either a manual or an automatic six-speed transmission.

Read: Ford Brazil’s Ranger Rusty Blue Looks Like It Was Abandoned In The Jungle

The new Montana is more than anything a lifestyle truck, and the company claims it’s the “SUV you need, the pickup you dreamed of.” Measuring in at roughly 15 feet long and 6 feet wide (4.5×1.8 meters), it offers best-in-class space for second-row passengers.

It also gets six airbags, blind spot alert, swanky LED headlights, digital air conditioning, parking sensors, a backup camera, push-button start, wireless smartphone charging, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, OnStar, and built-in WiFi, making it a rather luxurious little truck.

The bed can hold 874 liters (31 cubic feet) of stuff and the truck can haul nearly half its own weight, but Chevy says that it wasn’t primarily focused on maxing out specs.

The new Montana features bed separators, making it more practical to carry everything from groceries to furniture, to piles of dirt. Chevrolet also made sure to provide best-in-class protection against dust and water in the cabin, for a more comfortable experience, even when you’re using the Montana as a pickup truck.

As the latest member of Chevy’s so-called “global vehicle family,” the new unibody Montana shares its underpinnings with the Onix, the Onix Plus, and the Tracker. Chevrolet says that it is now taking orders for the 2023 Montana in Brazil with a base price of 134,490 Brazilian real ($25,895 USD at current exchange rates).