2011 Chevy Cruze: First productions photos

[Spectre]

You're right, but it at least seems like GM was banking on some sort of badge snobbery to sell those cars. You probably know better than I do, were there any badge-engineered cars in recent history that sold well in the US? The Escalade, Lexus LX and early Lexus ES are the only things I can think of off the top of my head.

Nope, can't think of any "pure" badge-engineered cars that succeeded in recent history.

In the US, badge-engineered cars only sell well if the "uplevel" badged car offers desirable standard features or options that you just can't get on the base-badged car at the same price level. It's more of a value proposition than anything else; and at that point they're not "pure" badge-engineered vehicles any more. Let's use the ones you cited as examples.

Lexus LX: Sold well because the parent Land Cruiser was NOT available with a V8, leather, or 3rd row seating. Now that it has these, LX sales are in the tank and LC sales are up. Relatively speaking, of course.

Lexus ES: Sold well because it was a Camry with leather and wood and much improved instrumentation, none of which you could get on the Camry - also, was cheaper than an up-optioned Camry V6 in its base config. Once the Camry had the V6 price drop and leather became available on it, ES sales evaporated.

Escalade: We've already talked about the rebadged Avalanche and Suburban variants failing. The base Escalade sold well because it offered things like HIDs, LED taillights, MUCH better noiseproofing, more comfortable seats, and a better interior (after the first generation). You couldn't get that stuff at any price on the parent Tahoe.

^ What about the mid-size GM sedans? Buick Regal, Pontiac Grand Prix, and the Chevy Lumina/Monte Carlo etc, were all basically the same.

If you take out the fleet purchases, none of those were a success at all. Witness the short duration of the Lumina run, when it was supposed to be a successor to the ill-fated Celebrity, which was pretty much the same thing.

 

[jetsetter]

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Although the 2010 Chevrolet Cruze isn?t scheduled to make its public debut until October?s Paris Motor Show, the Bowtie brand decided to show those gathered at its Lordstown, Ohio plant today a ?foam? version of the upcoming sedan.

As expected, the Cruze takes styling cues from the new Malibu, and promises to be a much sharper car than the current Cobalt. Chief designer Taewan Kim says that the new Cruze?s design is meant to be ?bold, not evolutionary. We wanted to take a big step forward, making a strong design statement for Chevrolet products around the world.?

The car will hit the European market in March of 2009, with U.S. production at the Lordstown, Ohio, plant where the Cobalt is currently made beginning in June 2010.

Although there is widespread speculation that the Cruze will eventually replace the Cobalt, it still remains possible that both cars could coexist within GM?s lineup. In fact, Chevrolet?s North American head, Ed Peper, says the Cruze is actually intended to create a new segment that slots above the Cobalt but below the Malibu. Seeing the car in person confirms the Cruze could fill that hole in Chevy?s lineup as it is actually bigger than it looks in pictures.

At its European launch, the Cruze will offer a 16-valve, 1.6-liter four-cylinder with 112 horsepower and a 140 horse 1.8 liter. Both gasoline engines will feature variable valve timing on both the inlet and exhaust sides. Also available for Europe, though not expected in the United States, is a 2.0 liter turbo diesel putting out 150 horsepower and 320 Nm of torque (official lb-ft. figures weren?t released, but we?d expect approximately 235 lb-ft). Transmission choices will include a five-speed manual or a six-speed automatic.

Based on what was once called the Delta 2 platform, the all-new Cruze will ride on GM?s Global Compact Vehicle Architecture. The primary engineering and development will come from GMDAT ? General Motor?s Korean partner (although there has been strong input from the North American and European planning groups).

Codenamed GMX071, the Cruze shares many components as well as styling features with the next Daewoo Lacetti, including a large portion of sheetmetal.

Obviously Chevrolet?s Cruze and the Daewoo Lacetti will not be completely identical, as each will have different styling cues on the front and rear clips, headlamps and taillights.

Chevrolet will also offer another version for markets outside of the United States, known as the Optra. In addition to these, there will likely be up to 15 different cars for GM?s global markets based on this new ?Global Delta? architecture.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/chevrolet-cruze.html#more-8575

 

[NecroJoe]

According to a couple of American car magazines, they are saying that this is supposed to slot BELOW the cobalt, have smaller engines, and will co-exist with the Cobalt for a couple of years.

 

[Hercules286]

This Euro fascination with badges and nameplates is quite funny from over here.

It exists because before "advances" in "management" and "marketing" were made, brands and nameplates used to mean things. Don't see that coming back, though.

 

[Spectre]

It exists because before "advances" in "management" and "marketing" were made, brands and nameplates used to mean things. Don't see that coming back, though.

Thing is, the Americans have figured this out... but the Europeans haven't.

This is the car that woke up *everyone* in America to just what badge engineering was and why it was a bad thing:

The Cimarron was introduced in 1981 as an 1982 model - and it finally woke up a lot of people as to just how bad a deal you got when you "bought the badge" instead of shopping on a value proposition. It was quite literally and obviously a Chevrolet Cavalier with a Cadillac logo on the front, back and inside... but there were points where you could open a panel and see the Chevy logo. It cost 50% more than a loaded Cavalier. (Sound familiar? Audi, I'm looking at you...) This car was what ended the "buy the badge" concept in America, resulting in the mostly value-driven market we have now.

Apparently Europe wasn't paying attention. And you guys are getting *taken* by the Euro makers.

 

[luvcars]

I like it!

 

[Hercules286]

Some guys are getting *taken* by the Euro makers.

Are you talking about the A3 and the Golf? The A3 is much more than just a rebadge, it has its own suspension setup, its own bodywork and its own interior. The cost of that R&D isn't zero.

Also, the Skoda Octavia has its own packaging, its own interior, its own suspension setup, its own body panels...

Also, the Seat Leon has its own packaging, its own interior, oh well you get the picture.

Those cars are much more expensive to make than the kind of rebadging GM does.

Still, I don't think brand names mean much anymore. They probably never will again.


FWIW, Daewoos sell the same numbers to the same market (fleet) from before they were called Chevys.

 

[SL65]

....and thats gonna become the next-gen Holden Viva I guess it looks much better than the current

 

[Interrobang]

Got news for you - Chevrolet is NOT a prestigious badge, even within GM. It's their lowest nameplate.[...]

[...]The only time Chevrolet wasn't the lowest GM brand was when Daewoo branded cars were sold in the US.

Could have sworn that they were like the second best behind Cadillac ... didn?t know Pontiac and Buick are better (or just more expensive ). Thought when GM sends us some American Cars with Chevrolet (before Daewoo was sold as such) written on them, they?d send the good stuff. Looking forward to TG-Us ... a whole new world of Cars is opening

 

[thedguy]

According to a couple of American car magazines, they are saying that this is supposed to slot BELOW the cobalt, have smaller engines, and will co-exist with the Cobalt for a couple of years.

And then the cobalt will die and hopefully never come back.

 

[Dsemaj]

Hmmmmm. Now I just think it looks a bit dull, in comparison to the Ford Kinetic cars.

Just saw the pictures of the US spec Fiesta. GM better work harder with their smaller cars if they want to compete with stuff like this (And i'm aware that the Fiesta and Cruze are two different classes of car)

 

[NecroJoe]

So...has anyone explained why "Cruze" is spelled like that?

 

[TC]

So...has anyone explained why "Cruze" is spelled like that?

Because shit spelling is hip?

 

[NecroJoe]

Because shit spelling is hip?

I used to work at a record store, and we would scroll through our album titles, and have to guess the genre by the name of the album.

If it was rap, at least one word had to be spelled wrong, any plurals has to end in a "z" and anything "-er" was now "-a" (ie, Playa from Player)

The worst one was something call "Da Empyre Shrikz Bak" or something equi-diculous.

Anywho...Aztek was not hip. Any others?

 

[un-dee]

Thing is, the Americans have figured this out... but the Europeans haven't.

Yeah sure thing, that's why Ford sells you the same car with 3 different badges, and GM with.... 10?
They just failed to have them feel differently, changing the name isn't enough. The fact that all these brands have a shitty image now has nothing to do with people "figuring out" badge engineering.

 

[klankymen]

As for the badge discussion.... funny, I always thought of it as the other way around.

OK, we have the massive VW group conglomeration, but apart from that...

If you want a BMW, you buy a BMW. When BMW makes a car, they sell it as BMW.

When Mercedes makes a car, they sell it as a Mercedes. (Maybach isn't a car anymore, it's a boat).

But whenever I open a thread about some American car, it's like "GM is trying to decide which brand to sell this under... they were going to sell it as buick, but now they've decided it will be a chevy. But in europe we will call it an Opel. What if it doesn't sell well? Next year we'll call it a dodge. Doesn't sell well? Let's call it a Crysler"

It's like they just build a car, and then try to figure out which badges reputation it would ruin the least.

Back when I was little, I thought there were tons of American car manufacturers I knew nothing about.... now I realize there is only GM

 

[Spectre]

Yeah sure thing, that's why Ford sells you the same car with 3 different badges, and GM with.... 10?
They just failed to have them feel differently, changing the name isn't enough. The fact that all these brands have a shitty image now has nothing to do with people "figuring out" badge engineering.

One minor problem with your assertion. You seem to be under the impression that they are successfully selling the badge-engineered cars. I believe if you check the numbers for the last 20 years, you'll find that they're NOT selling at all. Just because the makers *try* to sell us crap doesn't mean that we'll buy it, and we *all* know that Detroit takes forever to realize they made a mistake. See Aztek. Also, see how well the Mercury Mountaineer (the Mercury-badged Ford Explorer) has sold... or rather, hasn't.


And yes, part of why they have a shitty image is because people realized that, yes, the Mercury Sable reallly was an overpriced Taurus. And that the Cimarron was an overpriced Cavalier. And that the Lincoln Blackwood was just an F-150.

 

[Dsemaj]

Was the Aztek really that bad, apart from the shitty styling? I mean, the original concept looked a hell of a lot better, and the actual package wasn't quite so stupid.

 

[TC]

Platform sharing is different then badge snobbery. The way I see it, platform sharing just gives the buyer different options. For example, GM built a very good little sportscar that they called the Pontiac Solstice. But the styling is very much Love It or Hate It. So GM built the same car, only this time they restyled it inside and out to look completely different. They called that car the Saturn Sky. Which was rebadged as an Opel for the Euro market, since I doubt anyone would buy a Saturn over there.

NO ONE is going to buy the more expensive Saturn over the Pontiac because they think the Saturn badge is better. The only reason people choose the Saturn version is because they prefer the styling. And it's the same way with most of the cars GM builds, going back into the 1960's. The Camaro and Firebird were always the same car, just a Chevy version and a Pontiac version. They had different styling, price points, options, standards, etc. But they were the same car and no one was out there buying the Pontiac because they thought Pontiac's were classier then Chevrolet's.

 

[un-dee]

Yeah but why do you think people buy Porsches, BMWs and Ferraris in a country where you are only allowed to drive 65mph. I say apart from the enthusiasts most people just buy them because they are "premium", which is exactly what we're on about.