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I’m down in NY for the next two days covering all the green goodness coming out of the NY Auto Show. I had a very interesting dinner meeting tonight with GM Executives — from Hummer to Chevy — and will comment on our conversations later. However, with the embargo lifted on this release, I wanted to quickly update you on Chevrolet’s plans to introduce “small” ZAP-like vehicles to the U.S. market. I’m particularly interested in one of these concept vehicles because it’s called The Groove. Awesome.

Anyways, not to left out of the small vehicle market in the U.S. (if there even is one yet) Chevy is releasing three concepts: The Beat, The Trax, and the aforementioned, Groove. From the release,

“The original mission was to develop the perfect Chevrolet small car for urban commuters, but after the architecture was developed, the young designers brought so much energy to the project that they came back with not one but three interpretations of how this car could be built and adapted to Chevrolet customers around the world.”

The interesting thing about this announcement is that people will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite concept vehicle by hitting the site, Vote4Chevrolet.com. According to the release, this will help Chevrolet determine the U.S. market interest in the minicar segment, and which design/capability package resonates best with potential buyers. The different versions range from 1-1.2 liter engines sporting diesel or gasoline varieties. While no details regarding mileage were released, it’s obvious based on size and weight that these vehicles will be fuel efficient.

I’m personally very interested in the small car range and would hope that Americans with a need for a second car would consider them as an alternative. We’ll have more information on the cars tomorrow along with photos of all three concepts.