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.

Separating The Good GM From The Bad

Inasmuch there are some people who would like to see General Motors survive as currently arranged, the likelihood that the company will be restructured through bankruptcy court has never been greater. Indeed, the Obama administration is telling GM to prepare for that scenario, given that it is probably the only way that the automaker will finally be able to resolve its festering problems.

Tens of Millions Lost Daily

As recently as January, GM was losing approximately one billion dollars about every three weeks, an amount that translated to more than 80 million dollars a day. Losing tens of millions for any company is a challenge, but when you lose that amount every day that you’re open for business, then there is something terribly wrong with the way that you work.

Last year, in January, I was the guest of GM at the Detroit Auto Show (NAIAS) an event where the automaker wined and dined media types from all over the world. In addition to being one of the sponsors for the show, GM hosted an annual gala leading up to the NAIAS, inviting Mary J. Blige, Maroon5 and other stars to headline the event. GM was supporting this event even as they were hemorrhaging cash — not exactly the best way to preserve fast dwindling funds.

Though I was grateful for the Detroit invite, in retrospect I can see how much this event cost the automaker, hastening its demise which became apparent as 2008 closed out. Even as recently in August I was invited to Ohio (but unable to attend) by GM to view the roll out of the Chevy Cruze, another costly publicity event within the same calendar year.

Good GM & Bad GM

The plan for GM if it does go through bankruptcy is to split the company into two parts, what the federal government calls the “Good GM” and the “Bad GM.”  The first entity will comprise the automaker’s healthy assets which includes its Chevrolet brand, its Chinese assets and perhaps Cadillac. The “Bad GM” will be made up of its many bad assets including brands such as Saturn, Saab and Hummer. It’ll also include bondholder debt and at least a portion of the company’s health care and other union obligations.

The Obama administration is under the impression that it will be able to resolve GM’s bankruptcy quickly via its proposed arrangement dividing the company. The thinking with this is that the federal government would inject five to seven billion dollars into the automaker, helping GM emerge from bankruptcy in as a little as two weeks. The bad asset part or “Bad GM” would take longer to unwind, but the good assets might be able to thrive going forward in short order.

It was on March 30th when President Obama announced that GM had sixty days to restructure while telling Chrysler LLC officials that they had thirty days to form an alliance with Fiat S.p.A. or face liquidation. With the former company, the feds see a glimmer of hope, but with Chrysler all bets are off if an agreement with Fiat cannot be reached.

Related Reading: GM Makes A Case For Bankruptcy