The Chevrolet Cavalier was a compact automobile produced from 1982 to 2005 by General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

. Built on the company's J platform

GM J platform

The J platform, or J-body, was General Motors' inexpensive front-wheel drive automobile platform from the 1980s and 1990s. The platform replaced the GM H platform. The J-platform is the only platform of GM to have a model in each of its "Original 5" passenger car divisions...

, the Cavalier was one of the best-selling cars in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 throughout its life.
The Cavalier replaced the Monza

Chevrolet Monza

The Chevrolet Monza is a subcompact, four-passenger automobile produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1975–1980 model years. The Monza is based on the Chevrolet Vega, sharing its wheelbase, width and 140 CID inline-4 engine...

, which was available as a 2-door coupe

Coupé

A coupé or coupe is a closed car body style , the precise definition of which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and over time...

, a 3-door hatchback

Hatchback

A Hatchback is a car body style incorporating a shared passenger and cargo volume, with rearmost accessibility via a rear third or fifth door, typically a top-hinged liftgate—and features such as fold-down rear seats to enable flexibility within the shared passenger/cargo volume. As a two-box...

 and a 3-door wagon

Station wagon

A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

 (using the same body as the discontinued Vega

Chevrolet Vega

The Chevrolet Vega is a subcompact, two-door automobile that was produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1971-1977 model years. Named after the star Vega, the car was powered by a lightweight aluminum-block inline four-cylinder engine...

 wagon, the model it replaced). The inexpensive Chevette

Chevrolet Chevette

The Chevrolet Chevette was introduced in September, 1975 and manufactured for model years 1976-1987 based on GM's worldwide T platform and superseding the Vega as Chevrolet's entry-level subcompact...

 was retained even as sales declined, and was formally replaced by even smaller captive import

Captive import

Captive import is a marketing term and a strategy for an automobile part or entire vehicle that is foreign-built and sold under the name of an importer or by a domestic automaker through its own dealer distribution system....

s.