Sonic and Cruze headlining for Chevy at SEMA

The Chevrolet Sonic and its big sister, the Cruze, have proven to the world that General Motors is once again capable of building class-leading small cars. To showcase these cars in a new light, Chevrolet will be bringing a smattering of Sonics and Cruzes to the upcoming SEMA show, with these models accounting for 60 percent of the brand's show cars. (Don't worry, there will still be plenty of Corvettes, Camaros and Silverados, and we'll have details on those in the coming days.)

Chevrolet Sonic Z-Spec IIThe 2012 Sonic is the latest and greatest of the Chevrolet small car portfolio, and GM will have 20 different Sonics on display. Here, we see the Sonic Z-Spec I (above) and Z-Spec II (right), showing the different aftermarket options that will be available for the Sonic hatchback. The Z-Spec I wears a lower aero kit that will be available to order starting this December, while the extra body work of the Z-Spec II is still purely conceptual right now.

Not pictured, a sedan version of the Z-Spec I will also be on display, as well as the Sonic Dusk concept, which wears a new Berlin Blue exterior finish, Z-Spec aero kit and a two-tone Mojave leather interior. All the SEMA Sonics are equipped with GM's 1.4-liter turbocharged inline-four, ride on special 18-inch wheels and are fitted with upgraded suspension bits, as well as Brembo brakes.

Both the Z-Spec and Dusk treatments make their way to the Cruze sedan in a similar fashion. In terms of design, the Cruze models look very similar to their Sonic counterparts, though the upsized dimensions of Chevy's C-segment sedan allow for larger wheels – 19-inch sets on both vehicles.