Cars.com’s Kickingtires blog has a question: “With consumers so concerned about fuel economy, why is General Motors waiting two years to bring out the Chevrolet Cruze, the replacement for the compact Chevy Cobalt?” Of course, we would ask the question with more of a “if the Cruze isn’t being sold for two years, why is GM hyping it now?” slant. Either way, even Kicking Tires is saying something’s gone wrong, horribly wrong, here. But no matter, Bob Lutz has the answer. “We’re waiting on the new world car because that gives us time to develop the 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder for it,” explains the man of maximum. And the way Lutz tells it, the Cruze’s new 1.4 turbocharged four-banger will be worth the wait. “The 1.4-liter is going to be more high torque than high horsepower,” explains the Car Czar. “High torque at the low end for power takeoffs and quick acceleration while still getting high mileage… We expect to get more than 40 mpg highway, better than with some hybrids.” Well, that sounds worth the wait, right? Well, in yet another Lutzie-worthy performance, Maximum Bob shoots his argument in the foot by revealing that “The 1.4 liter goes on sale in Europe in a couple weeks.” So then why is the Cruze not available until the mythical land of “late 2010?” Instead of waiting for the engine, is it possible GM’s waiting for, say, low-interest government loans for retooling factories to build more fuel-effiecient cars? Bet on it.
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“We expect to get more than 40 mpg highway, better than with some hybrids.”
Yeah, like the Cadillac Escalade hybrid, the Saturn Vue & Saturn Aura and Chevrolet Malibu & Tahoe!
Does Bob Lutz have a “Seven Deadly Sins” scorecard? He can firmly mark the checkbox next to sloth now. Or, later, like in 2010.
Doesn’t hyping the Cruze now “Osborne” the Cobalt at a time when it’s one of the few fuel efficient rides GM has?
It’s actually smart of GM to perfect the engine in Europe before releasing it in the US. A small turbo engine that’s (supposedly) advanced enough to deliver 40 mpg is probably going to have some initial problems, and Europeans are much more forgiving of quality issues than Americans (Proof: VW is one of the top selling brands and some Europeans even still buy French and Italian cars).
Also, the European 1.4 turbo probably requires octane levels that are not available in the US.
Still, even if there are some legitimate reasons for delaying the car, I would agree that the fact it’s being hyped so much now probably has a lot to do with GM’s corporate welfare strategy.
If GM actually wanted to survive without a bailout it would be much wiser for them to not mention the Cruze at all so that the people willing to buy compact GMs go out and buy Cobalts and Astras.
“The 1.4 liter goes on sale in Europe in a couple weeks.”
What is this engine being sold in? Any chance someone in Europe can take one for a ride or if they buy one let us all know what the real world mileage of the engine is? I know the aerodynamics will probably be different but I am sceptical of the hyped 40+mpg GM claims this engine will do.
@Redbarchetta:
I’d have to guess it’s the Astra. Seems like a turbo 1.4 is a little big for a standard Corsa, and they already have the Corsa OPC/VXR with the 1.6 turbo.
“A small turbo engine that’s (supposedly) advanced enough to deliver 40 mpg is probably going to have some initial problems, and Europeans are much more forgiving of quality issues than Americans (Proof: VW is one of the top selling brands and some Europeans even still buy French and Italian cars).”
Actually, europeans are LESS forgiving of quality issues. That’s why almost no american cars are sold in any significant numbers across Europe, except for Ford and GM:s european branches.
We’re waiting on the new world car because that gives us time to develop the 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder for it
Three possibilities, possibly a combination of them:
1. GM can’t stand to do incremental improvements. This is pretty much standard operating procedure for them.
2. They’re not waiting. They actually haven’t got anything in the pipeline and are pumping out PR releases to make it look like they do. Again, this is a GM SOP.
3. The 1.4L is the only way this thing is going to get the purported mileage, and it’s nowhere near production and/or GM PR (or Lutz himself) shot their mouths off about mileage before GM engineering was ready.
Basically, it’s the Volt all over again: smoke and mirrors about tomorrow in hopes that today’s problems just go away.
Surely the company that can have all new technology ready to roll inn late 2010 (and will leapfrog the performance of the companies with a decade lead in experience) can get an extant engine ready for us over here in a few weekend shifts.
I guess your info must be wrong Ed…
Smirkingly,
Bunter
Katie-beat me to the punch on the “better mileage” comment.
The engine can be found the Opel/Vauxhall Astra aka the Saturn Astra.
So he could bring the engine to the US within no time … if he just wanted.
http://www.opel.com/brand_sites/astra/launch/my85/
Actually, europeans are LESS forgiving of quality issues. That’s why almost no american cars are sold in any significant numbers across Europe, except for Ford and GM:s european branches.
Europeans and less forgiving about percieved quality, but seem to take poor reliability as a given.
Have you seen how VW treats it’s German customers and dealers? There’s no way North Americans would put up with that crap, at least not at the volume that VW sells.
I am German and I don’t think we are more forgiving about quality issues.
Actually VW also comes down bottom on all German quality reports and also Toyota, Honda etc. are on top.
But the quality of the European Fords and GMs (Opel) is really not far off the Japanese brands. So I don’t really see an issue here that would prevent these models to be sold in the US.
Btw. the European GM and Ford subsidaries are using the exact same metrics and systems when engineering a car as their US counterparts.
GM has already done the 45+ mileage engines, over 15 years ago! When it wasn’t popular or trendy…
Short memories around here!!!
Geo Metro.
Chevy Sprint.
If GM actually wanted to survive without a bailout it would be much wiser for them to not mention the Cruze at all so that the people willing to buy compact GMs go out and buy Cobalts and Astras.
That’s one big “if” there…
Oh, and I finally saw my first Astra on the road. In Portland’s “yuppie ghetto,” the Pearl District no less. A stripper five door, by the looks too. Given the number of overpriced lifestyle hatches you do see around here (Volvo C30, Impreza Outback, A3) I’d expect to have seen at least one Astra coupe by now. How long have those been on sale now?
My guess as to the delay is that GM doesn’t want to buy engines with Euros to sell in cars paid for with dollars. They’re building a plant in Flint to make the 1.4, and that’s got to be what’s holding them up. The fact that the factory is “near” the Flint Engine South plant means it will probably conform to the “retooling” criteria that will likely accompany the bailout loans.
It’s a lot like Ford’s plans to build Euro models in the states, and as a short-term approach it’s something. Better than endless moon shots, anyway. But is it short-term enough?
If I were running GM, developing that engine would be a 24×7 enterprise. I mean seriously, they had time to develop the ZR-1. As much as love it, couldn’t the talent that went into that have been better spent cranking out the new 1.4 or what have you?
Monkeyboy,
The Geo Metro and the Chevy Sprint were rebadged Suzuki Swifts.
Maybe his 40 mpg is in imperial units.
A non-car friend of mine postulated the reason why GM needs to hype cars that won’t be produced for another few years…They have a tradition of coming up with great ideas that go nowhere. So in the case of the Cruze, Camaro and Volt, they advertise and hype the products far in advance to show investors they’re doing something and that it’s not vaporware.
@Diewaldo
The engine can be found the Opel/Vauxhall Astra aka the Saturn Astra.
Where? I find a lot of engines on Opel’s website now, but no 1.4 turbo. 1.4/1.6/1.8 NA, 1.6 and 2.0 turbo, 1.3, 1.7, 1.9 diesel, yes, but no 1.4 turbo.
GM has already done the 45+ mileage engines, over 15 years ago! When it wasn’t popular or trendy…
Short memories around here!!!
Geo Metro.
Chevy Sprint.
Neither car has a snowball’s chance in hell of meeting safety standards which would significantly increase the weight and/or price of such a vehicle.
Besides, everybody loves a fuel efficient car until it goes on sale, then we’ll just complain that it’s too pricey, too slow, not efficient enough…
@ Mirko Reinhard:
I guess you are German too, I didn’t find the link in English unfortunately:
http://blog.autoplenum.de/pflichtprogramm-sparen/
Edit:
Google does the translation
http://translate.google.de/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.autoplenum.de%2Fpflichtprogramm-sparen%2F&sl=de&tl=en&hl=de&ie=UTF-8
@Diewaldo
I am. The linked article also states a 2010 launch. So what does Lutz mean when he tells us it would launch in a few weeks in Europe?
Oh, I forgot – that’s Maximum Bob we’re talking about.
There’s some information in the linked article about a turbocharged 1.6 natural gas engine for the Zafira going on sale now. THAT is a potential money-saver.
@quasimondo
Besides, everybody loves a fuel efficient car until it goes on sale, then we’ll just complain that it’s too pricey, too slow, not efficient enough…
Or, like me, actually buy one.
@ Mirko:
What car do you drive?
My current transportation is a Opel Corsa C 1.0 Eco
Fuel consumption is 4.9 liters per 100 km or 48 MPG (if I calculated correctly).
@Diewaldo
I drive a 3-door BMW 118d, rated at 4.5 l/100km or 52 mpg.
A Corsa 1.0… So, there you go: a 40+ MPG car made by GM.
What, now you’re doing blog shoutouts? Jeez.
The Corsa looks like the perfect car to fight the Fit, Yaris, Cooper, etc. The body styling is pretty decent and it’s sold absolutely everywhere except the United States and Canada, apparently.
Especially the 192hp OPC model… that little sucker probably sings (2652 lbs)
Yes, the OPC is a very capable little racing car! :-)
With all this talk about future models, I got confused. What new models exactly is GM introducing to the US for 2009?
CTS-V and G8-amino? OK, what vehicles that they have a chance to sell more than 5K copies of a year?
Wow. FYI, the new ’09 Fit goes on sale this week.
I would just like to take advantage of this opportunity to restate my theory that Volt development is so financially intensive, it claims resources normally slated to sustain other programs. The Cruze development issues noted above are indicative of how much resources GM currently has available, in relation to how much the Volt requires.
Unfortunately, my theory will probably remain a theory as obtaining truth-in-information from GM appears more complicated than building the LHC and proving the existence of the Higgs boson.
Thanks for that opportunity.
There’s a picture of the Geo Metro in the dictionary, under the definition of “penalty box”.
My late grandma’s gutless-wonder Metro has only one redeeming quality: it can turn on a dime and give a nickel’s change. The turning radius must be measured in inches instead of feet.
tony-e30 :
No worries about the LHC creating a black hole, though, ’cause GM already made one to stuff government money into… ;-)
Cars like the Cruze would definitely tell the country that GM “gets it”, but if they’re relying on (waiting for) taxpayer dollars (loans) to get the ball rolling, then the profits should be shared with the taxpayers.
They really need to de-emphasize the Volt Hail Mary, and build cars that Americans can buy ASAP.