2011 Chevy Cruze Is Officially Offical!

P71_CrownVic · November 29, 2009

GM just OWNED the c-class car segment. Focus/Civic/Corolla/Elantra/Sentra eat your heart out.

More than a year after first showing us a styling buck and nearly as long since launching it overseas, General Motors is finally showing off the production Chevy Cruze for North America. Set to be shown publicly this week at the LA Auto Show, the Cruze is still a good eight or nine months away from arriving in U.S. showrooms.

When it does finally arrive, the Cruze should be a huge step forward from the Chevy Cobalt, and GM hopes it will be an able competitor to the next-generation Honda Civic and Ford Focus, which are slated to arrive not long afterward. The Cruze is slightly larger than the Cobalt, but will be powered by downsized engines, including a new 1.4-liter turbocharged four cylinder with 138 horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque, as well as a 1.8-liter normally-aspirated unit with similar power but less torque. All Cruze models will get six-speed gearboxes – either manual or automatic. The turbo Cruze is expected to score an impressive 40 mpg EPA highway rating.

Based on our brief experience driving a Chevy Volt powertrain mule (Cruze and Volt share common DNA), the Chevrolet Cruze should be more refined than the outgoing Cobalt by an order of magnitude, with a roomier interior and much better-executed passenger cabin. We'll see it in person later this week in L.A., and in the meantime, you can check out the first official images from GM in the gallery below. The official press release follows after the jump.

LINK-AutoBlog

THIS caught my eye:

* Ten standard air bags, including frontal, side-impact, roof rail head curtain, rear seat side air bags and new knee air bags

ColoradoSkiCountry · November 29, 2009

It looks just as ugly as the Crapota and Honda uggh.

SeirraRR · November 30, 2009

It's different but not to bad IMO.

KMGZ400 · November 30, 2009

not bad looking, it does look like a jap car but at least its got a bowtie on it

MS3DALE · November 30, 2009

not bad looking, it does look like a jap car but at least its got a bowtie on it

It does kinda' look like a Honda Civic doesn't it?

Cliff883 · November 30, 2009

I don't understand why you would replace the best selling Chevy model, being the Cobalt, with something like the Cruze. It is nowhere near as sporty, underpowered, and only comes in a sedan. With the end of Saturn and Pontiac, that leaves no cars even remotely sporty for the younger generation. I don't see this helping their sales.

P71_CrownVic · November 30, 2009

It looks just as ugly as the Crapota and Honda uggh.

Well...seeing as how they SPANK the domestic small cars every single month in sales...that may not be a bad thing.

I think it looks great...far better than THIS hideous abortion:

I don't understand why you would replace the best selling Chevy model, being the Cobalt, with something like the Cruze. It is nowhere near as sporty, underpowered, and only comes in a sedan. With the end of Saturn and Pontiac, that leaves no cars even remotely sporty for the younger generation. I don't see this helping their sales.

You don't see a car with a premium interior, premium options, bold styling, extremely efficient power trains, great pricing, with gobs of safety equipment, and...not to mention...a car that is leaps and bounds above the Cobalt as helping their sales?

Wingnut · November 30, 2009

I don't understand why you would replace the best selling Chevy model, being the Cobalt, with something like the Cruze. It is nowhere near as sporty, underpowered, and only comes in a sedan. With the end of Saturn and Pontiac, that leaves no cars even remotely sporty for the younger generation. I don't see this helping their sales.

The 4 banger with the turbo...yeah...Just spool that turbo up a bit and VROOM VROOM. Wrap a nicer chassis around it to boot AND give it around 40 mpg on the highway? That's a pretty safe bet.

Needs a big honkin wing though.

Chrisj · November 30, 2009

It looks just as ugly as the Crapota and Honda uggh.

Well...seeing as how they SPANK the domestic small cars every single month in sales...that may not be a bad thing.

I think it looks great...far better than THIS hideous abortion:

I don't understand why you would replace the best selling Chevy model, being the Cobalt, with something like the Cruze. It is nowhere near as sporty, underpowered, and only comes in a sedan. With the end of Saturn and Pontiac, that leaves no cars even remotely sporty for the younger generation. I don't see this helping their sales.

You don't see a car with a premium interior, premium options, bold styling, extremely efficient power trains, great pricing, with gobs of safety equipment, and...not to mention...a car that is leaps and bounds above the Cobalt as helping their sales?

May help some of GM sales. It's not owning Honda or Corolla with that model. All the people with 2 doors will be going to Hyundai Genesis and Honda Civic EX & Si. As for Corolla owners, they're loyal to Toyota. It's not a big enough step up to change. imo

Cliff883 · December 1, 2009

It looks just as ugly as the Crapota and Honda uggh.

Well...seeing as how they SPANK the domestic small cars every single month in sales...that may not be a bad thing.

I think it looks great...far better than THIS hideous abortion:

I don't understand why you would replace the best selling Chevy model, being the Cobalt, with something like the Cruze. It is nowhere near as sporty, underpowered, and only comes in a sedan. With the end of Saturn and Pontiac, that leaves no cars even remotely sporty for the younger generation. I don't see this helping their sales.

You don't see a car with a premium interior, premium options, bold styling, extremely efficient power trains, great pricing, with gobs of safety equipment, and...not to mention...a car that is leaps and bounds above the Cobalt as helping their sales?

The cobalt was a good platform, just needed a better interior. There is no one under the age of 30 going to even think about buying that car, its ugly and slow.

P71_CrownVic · December 1, 2009

There is no one under the age of 30 going to even think about buying that car, its ugly and slow.

You've driven it?

Cliff883 · December 2, 2009

Don't have to, just knowing it only has 138 hp makes it slow. I know the cobalt isn't much more hp, but it is more. I had an 06 cobalt and belonged to 4 cobalt forums. Not one person on them liked them. I'm not saying that it is a bad car, just seems to me that GM is going to lose the young generation.

04silverado1500 · December 2, 2009

Don't have to, just knowing it only has 138 hp makes it slow. I know the cobalt isn't much more hp, but it is more. I had an 06 cobalt and belonged to 4 cobalt forums. Not one person on them liked them. I'm not saying that it is a bad car, just seems to me that GM is going to lose the young generation.

Wow. Don't judge a book by its cover. It does have a 6 speed auto/manual for an option which is nice. How many gears did the cobalt you drove have? It'll most likely be faster then a 1988 sierra...not to say the '88 was a bad truck nor do they even have the same purpose....Just saying.

Also who knows. Gm (although unlikely during these times) could make some sort of SS package for it.

And as for people who hate on Toyota cars. I think it really depends on the car. I really don't care for the Tundra or Camry but when looking for a compact the Corolla is about as good as it gets (purely opinion based). My reasoning.....well you have a few major brands; Gm-cobalt=Front end issues/worse city MPG, Ford-focus=Not as god City MPG, Dodge-POS :-) but really Caliber...?, Tojo-Corolla decent mileage, looks one can live with, better MPG, Honda- Civic=ugly IMO, Spaceship, Nissan-sentra=Once again not a fan of the looks and nissan has been iffy on reliability.

So how many options are out there? I think the Cruze will fit in nicely assuming people are willing to give the chevy nameplate another shot.

Buffalo Chevrolet · December 18, 2009

I can't help but to agree with Cliff883. The Cobalt seemed to be the last thread in the Chevy lineup that the younger generation was holding on to. While I like the cruze quite a bit, I'm concerned that it's going to sell to an older market...orphaning the younger drivers.