Developed under the U100 code name, it was designed by Pininfarina and is based on the original Daewoo Nubira J100, a compact car.

The standard Tacuma has a seating capacity of five, but a seven-seater version was also introduced for the South Korean market.

Maximum luggage capacity of the Tacuma is 1425 L. In South Korea, it was called Daewoo Rezzo, and came with 2.0 L Family II straight-4 engines and 2.0L E-TEC SOHC Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) engines.

In Latin America, South Africa and Singapore, it was called Chevrolet Vivant and came with 1.6L DOHC Family I E-TECH straight-4, 5-speed manual transmission only and 2.0L DOHC Family II D-TECH straight-4, automatic transmission only, for the Tacuma.

In Vietnam, VIDAMCO once produced the Tacuma as the "Chevrolet Vivant" in complete knock-down kit (CKD), from January 2008 to December 2011.