What is it? Chevrolet will offer a new, small sedan starting in spring 2009 in Europe. This car is basically the replacement of the Suzuki Forenza, which was sold in Canada and other markets as the Chevrolet Optra. As before, it is designed by the Korea-based, GM-automaker Daewoo. Only this time, the car received some development help from Opel, GM's German subsidiary. The Cruze is expected Stateside for the 2011 model year. For Europe, the Cruze will be available with a 112-horsepower, 1.6-liter and 140-horsepower, 1.8-liter four-cylinder gasoline engines featuring variable valve timing (VVT) on both inlet and exhaust sides. A new 150-horsepower, 2.0-liter turbodiesel will also be offered. Manual and automatic transmissions will be available.
CR's take: A much needed small car for GM. Currently neither the Chevy Aveo nor Cobalt are particularly appealing or fuel efficient. Whether or not it will be the Cobalt's replacement remains to be seen.
