The Daewoo Tosca is a

mid-size car Mid-size—also known as intermediate—is a vehicle size class which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than compact cars and smaller than full-size cars. "Large family car" is a UK term and a part of the D-segment in ...

Daewoo Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "dae" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerat ...

in South Korea and marketed by

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...

as the Chevrolet Epica and Chevrolet Tosca, while

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thr ...

marketed it as the Holden Epica. Codenamed ''V250'', it replaces the Daewoo Magnus and its derivatives. The Chevrolet Epica was officially launched in Europe at the 2006

Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show is an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show is hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon is organised by t ...

. The Tosca is noteworthy in that it is available with transversely-mounted

straight-six The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bal ...

engines. Contrary to the preceding models (''V100'' Leganza and ''V200'' Magnus), which were styled by

Giugiaro Giorgetto Giugiaro (; born 7 August 1938) is an Italian automotive designer. He has worked on supercars and popular everyday vehicles. He was born in Garessio, Cuneo, Piedmont. Giugiaro was named Car Designer of the Century in 1999 and inducted ...

, the ''V250'' was designed entirely in-house. Due to the Daewoo brand being renamed as

for South Korea, the Daewoo Tosca ended production in early 2011 in South Korea. Production in China started in March 2007 and ended in 2014. Tosca was replaced by the Chevrolet Malibu which entered production in South Korea for the first time.

Name

GM Daewoo's official press releases says that ''Tosca'' is an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

for ''"Tomorrow Should Come Always"''. ''"

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dramati ...

"'' is also a popular

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long ...

. The "Chevrolet Epica" name was previously used on ''V200'' Daewoo Magnus models sold in Canada,

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

, China, Europe,

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...

and

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, ...

. Since April 2007, the Tosca has been marketed as the

Epica for the Australian and New Zealand markets, replacing the Holden Vectra sourced from

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

in Germany. Holden dropped the Epica in 2011 due to weak sales. It is also manufactured and sold in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

as Chevrolet Epica since June 2007. Models in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

are badged "Chevrolet Tosca".

Powertrains

Daewoo's ''XK'' straight-six engines were designed by

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company ...

, and they are what distinguish the Tosca from other similar vehicles. The ''V250'' is a

front-wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitu ...

car and the engines are mounted transversely; this configuration requires the straight-six engine to be very compact and packed quite tight. The Tosca was launched with two versions of the straight-six of different displacements: the 2.5-litre, which was carried over from the Magnus, and a 2.0-litre, which replaces the

-sourced 2.0-litre '' D-TEC'' used in the previous model. Since 2006, a 1.8-litre version of the '' D-TEC'' engine model is also available in the South Korean market. This engine is coupled to either a five-speed

manual Manual may refer to: Instructions * User guide * Owner's manual An owner's manual (also called an instruction manual or a user guide) is an instructional book or booklet that is supplied with almost all technologically advanced consumer ...

or four-speed

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving ...

. GM also announced that in early 2007 these engines will be joined by a 2.0-litre '' RA 420 SOHC'' straight-four

common rail Common rail direct fuel injection is a direct fuel injection system built around a high-pressure (over ) fuel rail feeding solenoid valves, as opposed to a low-pressure fuel pump feeding unit injectors (or pump nozzles). High-pressure injecti ...

turbodiesel The term turbo-diesel, also written as turbodiesel and turbo diesel, refers to any diesel engine equipped with a turbocharger. As with other engine types, turbocharging a diesel engine can significantly increase its efficiency and power output ...

, producing and of torque. The engine, co-developed by GM Powertrain, GM Daewoo, and

VM Motori VM Motori S.p.A. is an Italian diesel engine manufacturing company which is wholly owned by Stellantis. VM headquarters and main production facilities are located in Cento, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. History VM Motori was founded by two entrep ...

, debuted in the Daewoo Winstorm, and was the first diesel engine used in a Daewoo car. In early 2008, Daewoo launched an updated version of Tosca with a new six-speed automatic transmission in South Korea. There are two versions of six-speed automatic transmission: '' GM 6T40'' for the 2.0 and 2.5-litre petrol engines and '' GM 6T45'' for the 2.0-litre diesel engine. At the same time, Daewoo also revised rear portion of the car, changing the rear combination lamp and rear

bumper Bumper or Bumpers may refer to: People * Betty Bumpers (1925-2018), American activist, First Lady of Arkansas, wife of Dale Bumpers * Dale Bumpers (1925–2016), American politician, governor of Arkansas and senator * Bumper Robinson (born 1974) ...

Powertrains

(Source: )

Gallery

Pre-facelift styling File:20100728 daewoo tosca 01.jpg, Daewoo Tosca (South Korea) File:20100728 daewoo tosca 02.jpg, Daewoo Tosca (South Korea) File:2008 Chevrolet Epica (V250) LS sedan (2016-01-07).jpg, Chevrolet Epica (Singapore) File:2007 Holden Epica (EP) CDXi sedan (23994733715).jpg, Holden Epica (Australia) File:Chevrolet Epica V250 CN 01 China 2012-04-08.jpg, 2007–2009 Chevrolet Epica (China) Post-facelift styling File:20100801 daewoo tosca 1.jpg, Daewoo Tosca (South Korea; facelift) File:20100801 daewoo tosca 2.jpg, Daewoo Tosca (South Korea; facelift) File:Gonesse, Val-d'Oise - France (7660950980).jpg, Chevrolet Epica (France; facelift) File:2008 Holden EP Epica (MY09) CDXi sedan 01.jpg, Holden Epica (Australia; facelift) File:Chevrolet Epica V250 CN facelift China 2012-04-28.jpg, 2010–2012 Chevrolet Epica (China)

References

{{Chevrolet vehicles

Front-wheel-drive vehicles Mid-size cars Sedans Cars introduced in 2006