It was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and initially featured three body styles: three-door and five-door hatchbacks and a four-door sedan.

[7] The project began with a comparative study of competing models from 20 different manufacturers, with Toyota Tercel, Opel Astra and Volkswagen Golf identified as most competitive.

Giorgetto Giugiaro's design was chosen, and Italdesign was commissioned to develop the car's final outside and interior styling.

This included AC Rochester (engine components), Delco Chassis Division (brakes, including ABS), GM Powertrain (automatic transmission), Italdesign (body, structural analysis, electrics, prototype construction), PARS Passive Rückhaltesysteme GmbH (airbags) and Porsche (vehicle concept – research, structural analysis, suspension and brake components, and experimental production supervision).

The programme was completed in a remarkable time of only 30 months from the approval to the commencement of large-scale production of the Lanos sedan for the Korean market.

Since January 2005, after the takeover of Daewoo by General Motors, the Lanos produced in Poland started to be sold under the brand name of FSO.

From 2002, ZAZ equipped some of the kits with a domestic MeMZ-307 engine and sold this version under the Daewoo Sens name; this practice continues with the start of full-scale production of model T150.

In December 2004, ZAZ adopted the Lanos chassis for full-scale production and installed new welding and painting lines.

[10] In 2005, General Motors contracted with ZAZ to provide Ukrainian-assembled Lanos models for the Ukrainian and Russian markets, to be imported duty-free, thanks to an international agreement, and sold through the GM dealer network.

Between mid 2000 and 2001 the factory produced an even more frugal 4 door version of the Lanos II with no options at all but a cassette and those were sold by the Egyptian ministry of defense to army officers with a decently low price compared to the car's value at that time.

In November 2008, GM Egypt started producing the Chevrolet Lanos in 6th of October City, from Ukrainian supplied kits.

In Ukraine, the Lanos has been the best-selling car since at least 2006,[17] and until 2014 (except 2012),[18] being produced by the local manufacturer ZAZ under its own brand (starting from 2005).

[6] In Australia, the 1997–2003 Daewoo Lanos was assessed in the Used Car Safety Ratings 2006 as providing "worse than average" protection for its occupants in the event of a crash.