The Vega was a subcompact car sold from 1971-77. Available in coupe, hatchback and station wagon body styles, it was based on the GM H platform.
It was followed by the 1975-80 Monza. The Vega was Motor Trend's Car of the Year for 1971.
When the Vega was introduced, Detroit's Big Three, along with American Motors, were entering the compact car market to compete with the Volkswagen Beetle and Japanese imports from Toyota and Datsun.
All standard Vegas were equipped with a 2.3 L "2300" SOHC I4. The standard engine used either a single-barrel carburetor producing about 70 hp, or a 2-barrel option which boosted output to 85 hp. These engines had cast iron heads with aluminum-silicon cylinder blocks without iron sleeves. The wear surface for the piston was created by etching the cylinder bore with an electrochemical process. Early models overheated due to poor cooling channel design. Vega engines, except for the Cosworth, typically burned oil, not due to cylinder wear, but instead due to poorly designed valve stem seals. The exception was the limited-edition 1975-76 Cosworth Vega, which used a fuel-injected DOHC 2.0 L 16-valve version of the engine designed by Cosworth Engineering in England and built by Chevrolet at its Tonawanda engine plant.
The Vega was the first automobile GM produced that offered front wheel disc brakes as standard equipment. It was also the first car that GM produced that used extensive use of robotic welding equipment.
