Chevrolet News:Chevy pulls the wraps off of Cruze wagon ahead of Geneva

[Blake Noble]

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Chevrolet has revealed its new Cruze station wagon today, ahead of its scheduled reveal at the Geneva Auto Show next month. Set to go on sale this summer, the new wagon (or estate, if you'd prefer) adds a third bodystyle to the Cruze lineup to go alongside the sedan and hatchback in European showrooms.

Chevy's new small wagon is 184 inches (4,675 mm) long, making it longer than either the sedan or hatch. Inside, the wagon offers 17.6 cubic feet of cargo space with the seats up and a nice 52 cubic feet with the seats folded down. Outside, new taillights flank the wagon's rear and the Cruze's new schnoz will make its official debut on this newest variant. Buyers get a choice of three different gasoline (1.4L turbo, 1.6L, and 1.8L) and two different diesel (1.7L and 2.0L) engines.

Holden will eventually get a Lion-badged version but as for us here in America? Don't count on it for the time being.

Hit page two for the press release.

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World premiere for Chevrolet Cruze station wagon

• Station wagon is the third variant of world's favorite Chevrolet

• New engine line-up includes sporty turbo and frugal diesel

• Refined design and new technologies

• MyLink: cutting edge smartphone infotainment system

The Chevrolet Cruze station wagon is all set for its global premiere at the 82nd International Geneva Motor Show early next month. The station wagon, the latest bodystyle of Chevrolet's most popular nameplate, complements the sedan and hatchback versions, which together have combined sales in excess of one million vehicles globally since the carline was launched in 2009.

"The Cruze station wagon caters to an important market segment. It ticks all the boxes for European drivers in terms of distinctive design, dynamic driving, space and economy," said Chevrolet Europe President and Managing Director Susan Docherty.

The new station wagon features generous storage space and a choice of powerful and efficient engines as well as the state-of-the-art Chevrolet MyLink onboard infotainment system.

The new and improved engines will be available on the entire Cruze line-up starting summer 2012. In addition to the current 1.6L and 1.8L gasoline engines, a new 1.4L turbo gasoline, a new 1.7L diesel and an improved 2.0L diesel engine complete the powertrain offer.

The 1.4L gasoline, 1.7L diesel and 2.0L diesel engines come with start-stop technology as standard. All engines are Euro 5-compliant.

The station wagon, at 4,675 mm, is slightly longer than the hatchback (4,510 mm) and sedan (4,597 mm) models. Load space ranges from 500 liters up to the window line in the rear to nearly 1,500 liters up to the roof top with the rear seats folded down.

Refined design and new technologies

The station wagon is immediately recognizable as a new variant of the best-selling Chevrolet Cruze. The exterior design features a tapering single arch roofline and comes with roof racks as standard, providing convenience while maintaining a poised and sporty look.

A number of exterior and interior styling changes are being introduced in 2012 for all Cruze models. These include a remodeled front fascia, modified head-lamp interiors and fog lamps, and new wheel styles on the exterior and refinements to the center console and a greater choice of seat finishes for the interior.

New Cruzes are equipped with keyless entry, allowing access the vehicle with the key safely tucked away in a bag or pocket. Additionally, the system allows the engine to be turned on or off by pressing a button without the need to insert the key into the ignition.

A brand-new Chevrolet infotainment system, called MyLink, is being introduced in higher trim levels in the Cruze line-up and in the Chevrolet Aveo as of summer 2012. It brings owners' smartphone capabilities into the vehicle.

MyLink aggregates content from the smartphone onto the seven-inch diagonal high-resolution full-color touch-screen display. Once the smartphone is connected, personal playlists, photo galleries, phone books, videos and other stored media and data, such as a special navigation app, can be accessed though the infotainment system touch-screen.

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[David]

Sounds like a nice wagon that many families would enjoy especially with the Diesel engine and high mileage.

[loki]

"a new 1.4L turbo gasoline" ... DI'd finally?

[David]

^{I wonder how the 1.4l turbo compares to the 2.0 L diesel for horsepower and torque.}

[regfootball]

now THIS i would buy over a hatchback. An Eco manual wagon would be very nice......... especially if the 1.4 gets a little more power......

[regfootball]

or yeah, diesel manual.....50 mpg wagon? sweet.....

[01Malibu]

Go ahead and say "not available for the US market".

[Robert Hall]

This would give GM a competitor for the Jetta wagon, but it's probably too small a niche for them in the US. A diesel manual wagon would be really cool.

Edited February 10, 2012 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[daves87rs]

I want that here...NOW!

[dwightlooi]

This is the first time I have ever said this about any car... but I think the Cruze Wagon looks better than the Sedan (or the Hatch). The Sedan's weakest design element is the uber generic tail lamp and this car certainly improves on that.

[regfootball]

sedan is ok, in the rear its a bit clumsy, the hatch looks terrible, this at least looks relaxed and dare i say a bit crossover to it......like a subaru wagon......

[hyperv6]

This would give GM a competitor for the Jetta wagon, but it's probably too small a niche for them in the US. A diesel manual wagon would be really cool.

That is just it. The wagon niche is small, the deisel wagon niche is smaller and once you remove the loyal VW Deisel byers from the pack......... GM needs to first introduce the Deisel and then educate and market the car for what it can do for the owners. Too many people in this country still carry the old ideas of what a Deisel is. Too few understand where the new are at today in performance and economy.

I do have to agree the wagon Cruze does make a nice looking wagon. The shape in the longer quarterpanel really make it very stylish.

[David]

I wonder what it would take to setup and import these babis here just like the company in california did with the R34 and R35 Skylines?

I suspect you could clearly build a loyal following and make sure the diesel setup can handle BioDiesel and then you would have a hard core group that would love ya.

[occupant]

My opinion is the way to introduce a diesel is to do so as a hybrid. A diesel would be a better power source for an electric generator anyway. The problem is the American public still views diesel fuel as a fuel for dirty semi truck drivers, filthy, sooty, gets your hands and clothes smelly and slippery, and it brings to mind lot lizards and 2-liter bottles of urine on the side of the road. I'm sure in California they have special diesel pumps for the TDI and BlueTec owners that use rainforest-safe recycled post-industrial content wipes to self-clean their contoured ergonomic handles, play beautiful bird calls in the background with a light string quartet belting out Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata as you fill, and spritz gluten-free raspberry-pomegranate hand sanitizer on you when you hang up the nozzle.

You can also thank GM for not including a water filter on the 350 Olds diesel until it was too late. An rpm/speed governor would have helped, too.

Ford had some terrific diesel cars in the mid-80s. Remember the BMW turbodiesel in the Continental and Mark VII? No? How about the 2.0L Mazda diesel in the Escort and Tempo? No? Well, I can't blame you. They only sold a few hundred of each, if that. They were introduced too late and couldn't overcome GM's blunder. VW and Mercedes did fine with their diesels because they were German. I believe other cars like Nissan Maxima and Toyota Cressida/Camry could have diesels. Mazda's second gen 626 also had a turbodiesel available as well as a 4-door hatchback model. Good luck finding those these days, however.

Edited February 12, 2012 by occupant

[hyperv6]

If you drove a Old Diesel hard they would hold up well. The real issue is many of these engines were standard in some models and peole bought them and just puttered around town. We would get these in and every gasket was leaking oil. Also many people would think I need to clean this up and put cold water on the injector pump and it would lock it up every time.

GM took a short cut and it tarnished the image of the diesel in this country for years.

I had one customer with a GP with the Olds in it. He drove Cleveland to Columbus daily at 70 MPH, He drove it hard. That engine out lasted the car. It also never had leaks or issues.

If GM hopes to bring the Diesel back they need to make it the best they can and take no shortcuts this time. Also they need to market the hell out of it. I just wish they could find a way to make the price equal with the gas engines as this would make it easier for many to take a chance on it and find out they are better than they used to be. Happy customers and great MPG will sell these engines.

[Robert Hall]

Ford had some terrific diesel cars in the mid-80s. Remember the BMW turbodiesel in the Continental and Mark VII? No? How about the 2.0L Mazda diesel in the Escort and Tempo? No? Well, I can't blame you. They only sold a few hundred of each, if that.

I had an '84 Escort diesel....between my folks and I we put 150k on it....very reliable little car. 55mpg highway.

[Drew Dowdell]

My opinion is the way to introduce a diesel is to do so as a hybrid. A diesel would be a better power source for an electric generator anyway. The problem is the American public still views diesel fuel as a fuel for dirty semi truck drivers, filthy, sooty, gets your hands and clothes smelly and slippery, and it brings to mind lot lizards and 2-liter bottles of urine on the side of the road. I'm sure in California they have special diesel pumps for the TDI and BlueTec owners that use rainforest-safe recycled post-industrial content wipes to self-clean their contoured ergonomic handles, play beautiful bird calls in the background with a light string quartet belting out Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata as you fill, and spritz gluten-free raspberry-pomegranate hand sanitizer on you when you hang up the nozzle.

You can also thank GM for not including a water filter on the 350 Olds diesel until it was too late. An rpm/speed governor would have helped, too.

Ford had some terrific diesel cars in the mid-80s. Remember the BMW turbodiesel in the Continental and Mark VII? No? How about the 2.0L Mazda diesel in the Escort and Tempo? No? Well, I can't blame you. They only sold a few hundred of each, if that. They were introduced too late and couldn't overcome GM's blunder. VW and Mercedes did fine with their diesels because they were German. I believe other cars like Nissan Maxima and Toyota Cressida/Camry could have diesels. Mazda's second gen 626 also had a turbodiesel available as well as a 4-door hatchback model. Good luck finding those these days, however.

I have a rather masochistic desire for a Continental I6 diesel. They take tweaks to the turbo charger rather willingly.

[ocnblu]

Diesels are wonderful.

[67impss]

This just pains me all of this wagon diesel & stick shift that we can't have. If they can force the electrics even ecodrive then I want a damned wagon and this IS a wagon not hatch. A$$ is longer than tall