The Current & Soon Coming Chevy Cruze!
Already on sale in South Korea, Australia and soon in Europe, the Chevy Cruze will go on sale summer 2010 as a 2011 model.
General Motors is in the process of a historic reorganization, one that could help the one-time global automotive leader pare excess brands while rolling out a number of new models. You probably have heard of the Chevy Volt, that plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) that is just the beginning of the automaker’s quest to transform itself into a company producing revolutionary, highly efficient cars.
What you may not have heard about is the Chevy Cruze, which is based on the Volt’s platform, but will be powered by an economical, gasoline engine. This car has already been introduced in several markets, beginning last year in South Korea. By 2011, the Cruze will be sold across GM’s entire market including here in North America. To that end, this site is dedicated to tracking the Cruze’s progress as well as letting you know a bit more about this game changing car.
Advanced Engineering, Highly Fuel Efficient
Powered by a 1.6L I4 engine, the Cruze is paired with a five-speed manual or optional six-speed automatic transmission. GM also offers 1.4, 1.8 and 2.0L I4 engines depending on the market, the latter being a turbo-diesel engine which is already being sold in Australia as the Holden Cruze. It is believed that a direct-injection version of the 1.4L engine will be made available in the US, a car that GM says should get at least 40 mpg on the highway.
The Cruze is expected to replace the Chevy Cobalt and the Pontiac G5, the latter model which will simply die when the Pontiac name is retired at the end of 2010. Seating five passengers, the Cruze will include all of the latest safety and engineering features that customers expect, but it’ll be priced competitively. GM hasn’t announced pricing yet – the car goes into production in April 2010 – but a price in the neighborhood of $17,000 seems likely.
Lordstown, Ohio Assembly Plant Production
Last summer, GM announced that production for the US spec Cruze would be assigned to the company’s Lordstown Assembly Plant in Ohio, a $500 million retooling investment would help bring the Cruze online. Former GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rick Wagoner, said at an August 21, 2008 news conference that the Cruze was designed and engineered by the company’s teams in Europe and Asia Pacific and would be manufactured in those regions as well as in Ohio.
Though the company is now going through a painful and deep restructuring, the Cruze project continues as does production for the Volt. While the Volt be produced in small numbers, the Cruze will be mass produced and could quickly become the best selling model in the GM fleet whether sold as a Holden, Opel, Vauxhall, Chevrolet or Daewoo model.
Photo courtesy of GM Corp.
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[...] the Chevy Cruze itself is currently being sold in China and Europe while the Holden Cruze is available in Australia and New Zealand. Opel’s version of the car is called the Astra, [...]