1997-2016 Daewoo Matiz M100 M150 - 20 Years in Production

The M100 and M150 Daewoo Matiz story.

Here is a picture montage video of the M150 model.

I wanted to buy it as new here in Russia where it was available for many years and use it as a second car, a small city car for quick runs to the grocer's and baker's and butcher's and barber's and what not, and also for driving through the crammed backyards of Moscow's apartment dwellings where its small size and maneuverability would be ideal.

I even researched the car a little, pulled pictures from the Internet and looked at the dealers in my location.

But, as so many other things, it didn't play out and so here's what my file says on the car.

First off, the Daewoo Matiz was in production far longer than most people realize, the M150 variant in particular was produced into 2016.

And that makes it a near 20 year production run - from 1997 to well into 2016 when it continued to be manufactured and sold as the Ravon Matiz - an impressive feat that only the few and the most iconic vehicles have accomplished in the history of the automobile. 

While its production in South Korea and various other Daewoo factories indeed ended in 2005, the M150 version continued to be made by Uz-Daewoo in Uzbekistan into 2016 (from 2015 on it was sold as the rebadged Ravon Matiz).

The M100 Daewoo Matiz was based on Italdesign's Lucciola project.

The Daewoo Matiz was the final outcome of the Lucciola project, introduced in 1992 as a research prototype.

The Matiz, a compact MPV, decidedly revolutionised the very concept of city-car. Within a length of just 3.5 metres, it offered liveable space for five passengers and offered all the comforts of a higher segment cars.

At the 1992 Turin motor show, the Lucciola was introduced as a car prototype for recreational use designed mainly for town traffic.

The challenge was to concentrate attributes formerly exclusive to a higher segment cars within a car of very compact size: five seats, five doors and the ability to pass crash tests.

A few years later, the chairman of Daewoo came across the Lucciola when he was searching for a project of this type to launch. The determination and conviction of Daewoo made it possible to create the Matiz, a city car that won major commercial success, as borne out by sales of 2,500,000 in 10 years.

The M150 facelift was designed at Daewoo's Worthing Technical Centre and introduced in South Korea in late 2000, and exported from 2001. 

As per 2017 Uz-Daewoo apparently doesn't make the M150 anymore, not even as the Ravon Matiz.

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