U.S. Launch of Cruze Delayed

[nsap]

U.S. Launch of Cruze Delayed
GM's new compact has hit a setback.
www.gminsidenews.com
October 28, 2009
By: Nick Saporito

Possibly one of the most anticipated new car launches for General Motors in the 2010 calendar year is that of the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze. The small car will replace the aging Cobalt in the Chevrolet lineup in North America, even though the new Cruze has launched in just about every other world market either as a Chevrolet, Holden or Daewoo product. Unfortunately GMInsideNews was told earlier this afternoon that the Cruze has ran into a delay.

Initially the Cruze was supposed to make its North American launch in April 2010, with production taking place at the Lordstown, Ohio assembly plant. GMI sources have informed us however that as of today the launch has been pushed back to August due to a "supplier issue." GMI has not obtained any further details of the cause of the delay.

Expect GM to reveal the North American Chevrolet Cruze in December as the LA auto show.

EDIT: Local media in the Ohio Valley region is reporting this as well: http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/oct/2...tch/?newswatch

GMI Drives: Holden Cruze CD

[RamJet502]

Ouch, that hurts.

[Suziebob]

This car would have been a game changer a year and a half ago but it'll be old news by the time it launches.

[graycav56]

From April to AUGUST?? Oh man, that is awful in so many ways.

This will only serve to further shake the confidence of a number of people who are worried about putting money into a GM vehicle.

They keep getting the underpromise-overdeliver equasion backwards.

[FenwickHockey65]

*facepalm*

[TuffG929]

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!!!

[A.J.]

Originally Posted by Suziebob

This car would have been a game changer a year and a half ago but it'll be old news by the time it launches.

Ditto. This car should have been here at the same time it launched in Europe.

I'm hoping that new GM's first "totally new GM" compact (in 2015-ish?) will be developed for all markets at the same time.

It's like Ford and the Focus...I understand that there are different safety standards for different countries, but is it really that hard to sell the European Focus over here?

Was it really that hard to develop a North American Cruze in the first place?

[gotz_otto]

Well, the intro should be better than it originally was going to be then. GM will have no excuse to not have a half arsed launch after the delay.

[RamJet502]

Originally Posted by Suziebob

This car would have been a game changer a year and a half ago but it'll be old news by the time it launches.

I tell you what, the engines better be state of the art and efficient as hell or Ford and the imports are going to eat us alive.

[Quickening]

Originally Posted by Suziebob

This car would have been a game changer a year and a half ago but it'll be old news by the time it launches.

Yep. Going to be too little too late at this point really. It needed to have already been launched to really make an impact.

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by RamJet502

I tell you what, the engines better be state of the art and efficient as hell or Ford and the imports are going to eat us alive.

It's all going to come down to that 1.4L Turbo. If that engine doesn't perform like we expect...well, let's not talk about what's going to happen.

[Slideways]

Originally Posted by graycav56

From April to AUGUST?? Oh man, that is awful in so many ways.

This will only serve to further shake the confidence of a number of people who are worried about putting money into a GM vehicle.

They keep getting the underpromise-overdeliver equasion backwards.

The average American has no idea what a Cruze is. They will never know about the delay. Neither of my roommates have any idea what it is, a number of my friends who are "truck guys" have no idea either. Besides, maybe they had to work out some supplier issues that had to do with quality and chose to sort it out rather than start building them anyway. We don't know.

[graycav56]

Originally Posted by Slideways

The average American has no idea what a Cruze is. They will never know about the delay. Neither of my roommates have any idea what it is, a number of my friends who are "truck guys" have no idea either. Besides, maybe they had to work out some supplier issues that had to do with quality and chose to sort it out rather than start building them anyway. We don't know.

I hope you are right. Sometimes I forget the entire world isn't filled with "car guys". I suppose it depends on how much this gets out in the mass media, and the spin it garners.

I wonder what other kinds of delays we may be seeing....is this a one time deal or the sign of a trend to come.

[Mustapha Mond]

I of course am disappointed by this setback but I don't think it is such a tragedy. The average car buyer isn't in any way an enthusiast and I'd bet that most don't read even Car & Driver much less lurk at places like this. When GM starts promoting this car here it will be news to the average car buyer. Hopefully it will be so perfect by then that stingy old Consumer Reports will have no choice but to mark it a best buy.
-Elliott

[BigAls87Z28]

Ahhh crap that sucks!! Really needs to be here now, but putting it off for another couple of months? Yikes...