Hicom-Chevrolet Sdn Bhd unveiled the Chevrolet Captiva‘s Malaysian line-up yesterday, and although exact prices have not been determined yet, we now at least know a price range as well as spec levels of the different variants. It’s a sexy SUV with an appealing design that reminds me somewhat of a smaller Audi Q7.

The Chevrolet Captiva (essentially a Daewoo Winstorm) will come in four flavours on our local soil – a 2WD petrol, a 2WD diesel, a 4WD petrol and a 4WD diesel. The petrol option will be a 2.4 litre 4-cylinder iron block E-TEC II engine putting out a relatively low (for it’s displacement) 136 horsepower at 5,000rpm, and a decent 220Nm of torque at a surprisingly low 2,200rpm. This engine was definitely tuned to make all of its grunt at low RPMs, good for an SUV. The diesel option is a 2.0 litre turbocharged unit with Bosch direct injection making 150hp at 4,000rpm and 320Nm of torque at 2,000rpm.

Both engines are mated to a 5-speed automatic transmission with Tiptronic. For the 2WD models the power goes to the wheels via the front wheels, while in 4WD versions the system runs mostly with the front wheels, but sends torque to the rear wheels as needed up to a 50:50 split. The 7-seater Chevrolet Captiva uses a monocoque chassis (long wheelbase GM Theta platform) and rides on a MacPherson strut setup on the front and a multilink suspension at the rear, so comfort and handling should exceed competing SUVs that use a ladder frame chassis and rear coil spring setup.

It will be priced from RM138,000 for the cheapest 2WD petrol variant to RM155,000 for the most expensive 4WD diesel variant, which will include premium safety features such as ESP stability control, and Descent Control.

Two launches in one year by the new Hicom-Chevrolet joint venture – what’s next? Perhaps the Asian-market Chevrolet Colorado (a rebadged Isuzu D-MAX)?

More photos and a video after the jump.
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