Equinox Gas Mileage Should Encourage Cruze Faithful

The Chevy Equinox offers a strong hint at what is come for the 2011 Chevy Cruze, especially concerning gas mileage.

Last August, when General Motors first began to really push the Chevrolet Cruze by having media specialists show up at a gathering in Lordstown, Ohio, the plant where the car will be assembled, GM indicated that highway gas mileage for the car would be quite high, with numbers as high as 45 mpg mentioned. Though I was invited to attend the event, I had a prior commitment, but I was still able to closely follow everything that was being said about the Cruze.

Ultra High Fuel Economy?

At the time, I wondered if GM was stretching the Cruze numbers, given that even the diminutive Smart Fortwo gets only 41 mpg on the highway. True, a generation ago it wasn’t too hard for the smallest cars on the road to get north of 40 mpg, but that was before emissions testing got real tough and when cars didn’t come with airbags and other heavy equipment items. I just wasn’t confident that GM was accurately portraying how well the Cruze would perform fuel economy wise.

All that began to change for me when the fuel economy numbers for the Chevy Equinox were recently released. Powered by a 2.4L I4 engine that is paired to a six-speed automatic transmission, the 2010 Equinox delivers 22 mpg city and 32 mpg highway. That latter number puts it at the top of the scale for compact SUVS, besting the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V even the Ford Escape Hybrid which delivers 31 mpg on the highway (34 mpg city).

Taking A Look At The Equinox

When I learned that the Equinox scored so well, I began to think that the Chevrolet Cruze with a base 1.4L I4 engine paired to a six-speed automatic transmission, could easily get much higher fuel economy numbers than the heavier, taller and longer Equinox. Though I don’t yet have the specifications for the American Cruze, my thinking is that the engineering for this baby combined with lower curb weight will deliver good numbers.  And, given that GM thought that the Equinox would deliver 21 mpg city and 30 mpg highway, I now believe that highway mileage north of 40 mpg with the Cruze is attainable.

We’re at least a year away from seeing the Chevrolet Cruze hit local showrooms, with GM’s restructuring playing an important part in how that timeline unfolds. However, when the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze does make it to the market, I think that it’ll offer surprising fuel economy, perhaps the best of any five passenger sedan on the market.

Photo Credit: GM Corp.

See also — GM Releases First Chevy Cruze Photographs

GM To Slash Expenses, Raise Cash To Move Forward

General Motors is in a world of hurt, losing billions of dollars this year due to high fuel prices, a huge drop off in demand for its big trucks and SUVS, and thanks to a lengthy strike by transmission supplier American Axle which ended in May an action which cost GM $2.6 billion. GM’s stock is at a 54 year low and the company’s market share has dropped to its lowest percentage in over eighty years.

Most of GM’s losses are in the North American sector as the company is experiencing record sales in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and in China. Yet, as the home market for the huge automaker, the US must be profitable in order for the company to compete.

On Tuesday, GM officials announced that the company would continue to cut costs in a bid to recover. Thousands of white collar employees will likely lose their jobs, GM has canceled its quarterly stock dividend, and the company will be reducing truck capacity by another 150,000 vehicles annually. General Motors will also slash its advertising budget and it may reduce its participation in motorsports.

In all, the cutbacks are expected to save GM as much as $10 billion while raising $5 billion through selling assets and raising money. Earlier this year GM announced that they are considering selling Hummer, a large truck/SUV brand that has been particularly hit hard as gas prices topped $4 per gallon.

Industry analysts and Wall Street moguls have warned that GM may not have enough cash available to weather a protracted downturn, suggesting that bankruptcy is a possibility. GM has over $23 billion in cash on hand, enough to carry the company through the remainder of this year and says that with the additional $15 billion saved or raised the automaker should have enough to carry its business through 2009.

GM believes that the US market will drop to 14 million vehicles sold, down from 16.1 million predicted at the beginning of 2008. The company is pushing to bring new products to the market including its hybrid Chevrolet Volt, the compact Chevy Cruze, and ramp up production of popular models including the Malibu, yet another Chevrolet model.

(Source: General Motors)