The hatchback, was introduced in 2004 and marketed as Daewoo Lacetti5 in South Korea, Suzuki Reno in the United States.

[3] The four-door sedan, designed by Pininfarina, was launched in South Korea on 25 November 2002,[4] following a development period of two years and six months.

A pre-production prototype of the five-door hatchback, styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro, was shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2003 with production starting in December.

At the Geneva Motor Show in March 2004, Daewoo revealed the station wagon body variant penned by Pininfarina with the hatchback's updated interior and a facelifted derivative of the sedan's frontal styling.

This version was only produced in third world countries, such as Colombia, India or Thailand, and in 2013–2016 in Uzbekistan as the Daewoo Gentra.

At the same time, GM Daewoo introduced the VM Motori diesel engines on the Lacetti range.

In Australia and New Zealand the Daewoo Lacetti was briefly sold between September 2003 and December 2004 as a four-door sedan.

[9] Fitted with the 1.8-liter engine rated at 90 kW (120 hp) and 165 N⋅m (122 lb⋅ft), the Lacetti offered standard five-speed manual or optional four-speed automatic transmission.

[10] The special edition SX Limited from October 2003 added anti-lock brakes, side impact airbags, alloy wheels, climate control air conditioning, six-stacker CD player, tilt/telescopic steering wheel, lumbar support for the front passenger seat, and leather trim.

In New Zealand, where many cars are imported second-hand from Japan, several Japanese specification Chevrolet Optra sedans and wagons were also sold.

The Optra5 hatchback was added to the line-up for 2004 and was more contemporary in styling and equipment, with projector type headlights and fog lamps, clear taillight lenses, and blackout grille.

The successor to the Daewoo Lacetti-based Buick Excelle is based on the global GM Delta II platform, like the Opel Astra and Chevrolet Cruze and their derivatives.

[citation needed] The Lacetti-based first generation (Excelle) sedan, however, continued to be produced for the Chinese market until 2016.

[17] In Europe, the car was initially sold as the Daewoo Nubira, with the production model being introduced at the 60th Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2003.

The Magnum sported the family nose, and better interiors as compared to the petrol version, also a new 2.0-liter TCDi engine capable of producing 121 bhp (90 kW).

Nexus Automotive, importers and assemblers of General Motors and Daewoo vehicles in Pakistan, sold the car as Chevrolet Optra.

Sales however, were poor as Chevrolet was a recent entrant in Pakistan market, without many dealerships, and it was not sold for long.

[citation needed] In Japan, Suzuki briefly distributed the Lacetti as the Chevrolet Optra wagon.

The US model line features the 2.0-liter four-cylinder D-TEC made by General Motors, developing a maximum power of 132 hp (98 kW) at 5600 rpm.

The Chevrolet Optra entered the Iraqi market in 2004 with the 1.6-liter engine; a few years later the LS term version was used as a traffic police patrol vehicle.

[20] In 2013, the partner company Uz-Daewoo Avto began producing the facelifted sedan version as the new Daewoo Gentra.

In 2014, UzDaewoo, GM's subdivision in Uzbekistan, started importing the Lacetti sedan as Daewoo Gentra.

After license agreement between GM and Daewoo ended, UzDaewoo (now GM Uzbekistan) re-branded all of its lineup as Ravon, due to impossibility of using both Daewoo and Chevrolet names in Russia (Chevrolet withdrew from the Russian market in early 2015 due to the economic crisis).

The second-generation, built on the GM Delta II platform, is sold in most markets as the Chevrolet Cruze.

Chinese versions also included the new SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture called Baojun 630 manufactured in Liuzhou, Guangxi, China.

In this segment of the show, celebrity guests set timed laps of the Top Gear test track driving the Lacetti.

In the first episode of series 15 of Top Gear, broadcast on BBC2 on 27 June 2010, the Lacetti, that had been used for the power laps, was given a "Viking Burial" by presenter Richard Hammond.