Goodbye Cobalt, Hello Cruze WTCC

[BigAls87Z28]

SOURCE: Motor Trend[/b]

Race Ready: Chevrolet Drops New Pictures of 2009 WTCC Chevy Cruze Race Car
Posted November 24 2008 03:27 PM by Scott Evans

Shortly after the all-new Chevrolet Cruze broke cover at the 2008 Paris Motor Show last month, Chevrolet unveiled plans to race it in the World Touring Car Championship. Though the 2009 season doesn't start for several months, the team has been hard at work prepping the car and today released pictures of the new paint job, which is a bit more subdued that in previous photos (bottom two pictures).

While the car is new for the 2009 season, Chevrolet is sticking with its 2008 team. That includes RML Motorsport, the English company that prepared Chevy's outgoing WTCC car, a Lacetti. Also staying over from last season are the drivers, Englishman Rob Huff, Italian Nicola Larini and Swiss racer Alain Menu. Huff finished third in points last season and Chevrolet took home third place in the Manufacturer's Championship.

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[Knipps]

that's pretty badass.. a lot more sinister than the cobalt

[Mike]

i dig it,

but i really dig the bowtie digi camo

[WildBillyT]

Name sucks. I really like the car though.

[baddest434]

i like the car myself, does look bad ass!

[mc73nova]

I'm to lazy to read right now, is it still fwd?

[SteveR]

That looks pretty nice

[Predator86]

what kind of power numbers does this car have?

[Scrat's_Camaro]

ooooo! i like

[JL8Jeff]

I don't like the headlights. Other than that it looks just like a Cobalt!

[BigAls87Z28]

This is actually replacing the Lacetti, the Chevy compact that you see in newwer Top Gear "Stars driving average cars" segment.
The Cruze will replace the Cobalt here in America on Delta 2 FWD platform. It will be the more conventional version to the Volt.
It will go on sale in March in Europe, and it will be in America a year after.
Powertrain in Europe is 1.6 or 1.8 liter 4cyl, but in America it will get the new "Family Zero" 1.4Turbo engine making 145hp and get a rumored 45mpg highway. The 1.4T motor will be seen in more and more vehicles and will star as the "range extender" in the Volt.
2.0T LNF will be sure to follow. Delta 2 also has AWD ability. The cruze and the new Opel Astra will be the first 2 cars on this platform. Delta will also spawn a whole bunch more vehicles in the future.

[ar0ck]

The Digi camo one a pretty slick color scheme.

[mc73nova]

AWD Turbo, sign me up!

[NJSPEEDER]

It is nice to see GM supporting the smaller platforms through racing. With Menu and Larini as wheel men, I am confident they will come with good results.

I am just wary of these cars being available and campaigned primarily in Europe. I hope it isn't another case of them getting the cool stuff and us getting the turd version like with so many other cars.

-Tim

[BigAls87Z28]

That has been a concern about the Cruze coming to America with some downgraded stuff...but not this one.
Cruze, like Ford's Euro Spec Focus and Fiesta, will be priced a bit higher then what us American's normally expect. Its interior is gunna be top notch.
I dont know if it will get the turbo motor AND AWD or either of them, but its possible.

[shane27]

it looks like an audi on 'roids

[NJSPEEDER]

Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28

That has been a concern about the Cruze coming to America with some downgraded stuff...but not this one.
Cruze, like Ford's Euro Spec Focus and Fiesta, will be priced a bit higher then what us American's normally expect. Its interior is gunna be top notch.
I dont know if it will get the turbo motor AND AWD or either of them, but its possible.

Delete features = raise price?

Cars all over the world are built to US enviromental and impact standards, so what possible excuse is there to hand out down graded merchandise in your home market? I would have thought this would be the market they would push for the hardest since it is the one they are losing the fastest.

-Tim

[foff667]

Car looks pretty good.

[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by NJSPEEDER

Cars all over the world are built to US enviromental and impact standards,

I do not think that is correct.

[chrisfrom nj]

it looks alot better then the cobolt

[BigAls87Z28]

Originally Posted by NJSPEEDER

Delete features = raise price?

Cars all over the world are built to US enviromental and impact standards, so what possible excuse is there to hand out down graded merchandise in your home market? I would have thought this would be the market they would push for the hardest since it is the one they are losing the fastest.

-Tim

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

I do not think that is correct.

Like Scott said, US specs are different then Euro specs. Neither is better then the other, but they require different things like the new pedestrian crash protection for Europe vs 5mph bumpers in the US. Its why the 04-06 GTO's have a bigger nose then the Monaro. And that wasnt good enough for Canada!

Most if not all automakers, be it GM or Toyota, bring thier B game to the US, especially when it came to compact cars. In America, hatchback compacts are cheap-o cars that people with less money buy. Bigger is better. In Europe, a small hatchback is ideal, and people want dont want to lose out on such items like satnav, heated leather seating, etc etc. Now the other automakers have been used to making these types of cars for years, while the American auto makers were used to making midsized to large vehicles. Thats what we were good at, thats what Americans wanted.
Now, with the most recent gas spike, people want small cars. People are ready to think smaller.
Look at the Astra that GM finally brought to the US. If you look at the Astra in Europe, its one of the best selling cars, and GM's best selling car in the world. It comes with multiple engines, transmissions, body configurations including a hard top convertable, and an option list that is a mile long. Even a performance model that had held the record for the fastest lap around the Ring in its class (it was beaten by the new 08 Cobalt SS turbo btw)

They brought it to North America as its probably the only place its not sold. They decontented it and only left a few options available, and brought over only 2 versions, the 3dr and 5dr, and only the 5dr has optional trim levels while the 3dr comes in XR model only. Not a lot of options, and only 1 engine with 2 trans options.
And its here, and they are piling up on dealer lots. Last time I looked, dealer supply is 411 days. That is embarasing. When gas prices hit its highest, the Cobalt was selling like ice cream on a hot day, but Astra's sales didnt move. But thats a different story all together.


Anyway, the Cruze will come to the US with a lot of really cool technology, and be a premium compact car, something that Amerians are not used too. Think Jetta vs Focus.

This is the car the Cruze will replace in the European racing series.



And this is the interior of the Cruze (Daewoo Version)



This is the Astra Euro Spec



American Spec Astra




And the Chevy Cobalt SS interior