The Chevrolet Code 130R Was Another Affordable RWD Hero We Were Denied

One of the most depressing trends in the car market in recent years has been the total annihilation of small, affordable(ish) rear-drive sports cars. As we write this, if you’re in the UK, and you want a daily-able car with rear-wheel drive, two doors and a price tag under £40k (which, let’s face it, isn’t exactly cheap), your options are thus: BMW 220i, Mazda MX-5… and that’s it.

Not too long ago, there was hope that things wouldn’t be this way. There was the Toyota GT86 and its Subaru BRZ twin, the Fiat 124 Spider, the Mercedes SLK, the four-cylinder Ford Mustang. Then there were concepts kicking about, too: Nissan, for instance, came tantalisingly close to building the lovely IDx, and around the same time, Chevrolet could have got in on the act too.

In its backyard, at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, it rolled out a pair of concepts it said were designed to specifically appeal to young car buyers. It missed the mark a little in failing to realise that, in most cases, young car buyers wanted whatever the hell they could afford, but the duo was nonetheless interesting.

One was the Tru 140S, a peculiar lozenge-shaped coupe with a 150bhp, 148lb ft, 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder driving the front wheels. More interesting, though, was the Code 130R. This used the same engine, but this time sending power out back, and nestled in the front of a much more traditional coupe body.

Chevy’s press release made lots of proud boasts about the 130R – it had saloon levels of space in a compact coupe body, apparently, and was a form of mild hybrid, with regenerative braking and an electric motor that helped smooth off the torque curve under acceleration. It was also to feature smartphone integration to “allow motorists to transform the vehicle into their own docking station.” Very 2011.

What the release curiously failed to mention was this car’s biggest selling point, to enthusiasts at least: that it was a small rear-wheel drive coupe. The concept had a six-speed automatic, but apparently a manual would have been available had it made production.

And by all accounts, it came pretty close. At the show, Chevy was actively polling attendees on which of the two concepts it preferred. Votes, unsurprisingly, massively favouring the Code 130R. The manufacturer was even floating a projected starting price of around $20,000. That, at the time, was around £15,500, and is about £21,750 these days, although had the car come to the UK (and it could well have done – Chevy was still selling cars here then), that inevitably would have been hiked up a bit.

That was all irrelevant, though, because what Chevy didn’t see was the mass shift from car buyers, especially the younger ones it was targeting, towards crossovers. Yep, although never outright confirmed, the Code 130R seems to be yet another attainable enthusiast car killed by the rise of the hatchback on stilts. Thanks, Nissan Qashqai.