Joint Venture Car’s Debut Delayed in West

The Chevrolet Nova, the first car to be produced by the GM-Toyota joint venture in Fremont, Calif., will not be sold in California or other West Coast states until early 1986, six months after it is introduced in the central United States, Chevrolet officials said here Friday.

Robert D. Burger, Chevrolet’s general manager, said at the press preview of the Chicago Auto Show that Nova production at the joint venture is starting so slowly that Chevrolet won’t have enough cars to supply all of its dealers around the country in time for the Nova’s introduction on June 13.

Since the joint venture, which began production last December, will build only about 41,000 cars in 1985, Chevrolet plans to limit sales of the front-wheel-drive Nova subcompact only to the central region of the nation, where it does not now sell its small Japanese imports, the Chevrolet Spectrum and Sprint models.

The Spectrum, imported from Isuzu Motors Co., is now being sold only on the East Coast, while the smaller Sprint, built by Suzuki Motor Co., is only sold in the West.

The joint venture expects to produce 250,000 cars a year when it reaches full production. But Burger said that Toyota, which is managing the Fremont plant, traditionally is slow to increase production when it opens a new facility.