The chief engineer on GM’s Volt project may have admitted that the new Chevy Cruze isn’t “pretty,” but it still has to be a big deal for GM. Korean-built Cruze was recently launched in China, with the star of the show Prison Break as its spokesman. The interesting part is that, according to Automotive News [sub] “the actor is famous in China even though the series has never aired officially in the mainland, a sign of how entrenched intellectual property theft is in China.” If that’s not an auspicious start, it’s hard to say what is. Angus Mackenzie of Motor Trend got to tool around in a China-spec Cruze at the launch, and the best he gives it is “good in parts.” His unconvincing conclusion is that “the good news is the basics are there. Now GM must sweat the details.” Oh boy.
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
Introducing Chevy Cruze: Not Distinctive. At all. Only good in parts. Please spend twice as much on the Volt.
-credit to RF.
Daewoo is the hepatitis on top of GM’s cancer.
Am I supposed to be surprised that Daewoo delivered an OK but not good car?
How much you want to bet the 40MPG version comes sans carpet, sun visors, radio, etc.
ajla: you might want to check that byline…
@Edward Niedermeyer:
Sorry, my fault. For some reason I thought that statement was from the “GM Post-Mortems Begin” post.
It was a good line. Kudos to you.
i like it how the ad is a mess of artistic confusion
you surely don’t wanna see the car in the cold light of day
i cannot believe they have hooked their wagon to this thing
Small economy cars look cheap when you look at the details up close and in person. The Civic is an ok car, but the interior is a sea of cheap looking plastic. I think still pictures of the Cruze look ok for its class.
http://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/cruze/2011/picturearchive.html
From the review it certainly sounds OK.
I rented quite a few Corollas and IMHO they all were horrible POS crapboxes, and Corolla is supposed to be top of the class.
It’s not a bad looking car. The materials are probably going to be cheap.
Being inoffensive and cheap are hardly deal killers when it comes to economy cars, though.
As people have pointed out, the Corolla and Civic are hardly made of the best materials on the planet. (My old ’92 Civic had great materials by comparison, though, so go figure; maybe quality decreases with size and price.)
The Japanese make a killing selling smaller vehicles. There’s no reason why GM can’t produce something nicer than the Aveo.
Nice Posting, thanks to share your knowledge with us.
Why would they go to China to test this car when it’s been out as the Daewoo Lacetti in So. Korea for months now?
‘The good news is the basics are there. Now all GM needs to do is sweat the details’ ???!!!!! This is supposed to be GM’s “game changer” small car?
Sorry folks: GM has done it again then. The same was said about the Js and the S Series and the ION and even the Cobalt after the 800 improvements to the Delta GM made before it’s introduction in 2005.
Just get out of the business GM.
I have seen the Chevy Cruze and sat in it [don’t ask]and it’s beautiful .Nice interior. Roomy. I had determined it to be my next new car.
Until the Government decided I would be subsidizing GM with my tax dollars.Let them buy it.
Sadly this may be the most exciting ride we get out of Government Motors for some time to come.
Angus Mackenzie of Motor Trend got to tool around in a China-spec Cruze at the launch, and the best he gives it is “good in parts.”
When that’s the best compliment that Motor Trend can pay to a car, you know it’s a complete turd.
I have seen the Chevy Cruze and sat in it [don’t ask]and it’s beautiful .Nice interior. Roomy. I had determined it to be my next new car.
Until the Government decided I would be subsidizing GM with my tax dollars.Let them buy it.
Let’s not hurry to be contrarian on every little thing that GM is trying to do to pull its head out of its ass. Its a very large corporation that will take time to revise itself from the bad habits and selfish short term decision making.
Being no fan of Chevy or most things GM, I am hopeful that the auto giant can again be a standard of the automotive world. The Cruze is little more than a bandaid on a sucking chest wound, but at least its a good start. Its a good quality car that should sell well and won’t be parted out to Pontiac, Buick, and Saturn, leaving Chevy with its own product once again.
I just can’t figure out why they can’t reengineer some of the European Opels ? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to adapt an existing and well recieved product than designing an all new one? I think the new Fiesta is going to trounce it in the marketplace.
Well, at least Wentworth Miller is easy on the eyes.
dolorean23:
“Let’s not hurry to be contrarian about every little thing GM is trying to do ” ?
I have been watching this same story and same excuse making for nearly 40 years now. Now it’s just nit picking and “contrarian”?
You’re just getting in on the tail end of the story. They have had plenty of time so that there wouldn’t be any need to read, once again that GM has the “basis of a good car there now if only…. ” It’s the story of their corporate legacy: the 80% ready for prime time car and the customer gets to be the final test dummy who gets to work all the bugs out.
“Take time to revise itself from the bad habits and selfish short term decision making” ?
There’s an audience out here that’s been waiting for decades to see that happen. And if you have read much on TTAC GM is still not getting it.
It’s over. They have run out of time.
And I don’t care how good one or two of their cars is in the future, I won’t being opaying twice for any of GM’s shit no matter how good they claim it is. They’ve telling the same lies over and over again till the actually believe it was “circumstances” that killed their chance at a turn around.
Not buying it any more. Or their products.
Note to Chevy, you spelled “Cruise” wrong.
Maybe they was chillaxin’ when they dropped that dope shizzle on the Cruze-izzle.