Despite reports to the contrary, and despite construction contracts being canceled by GM, spokesperson Sharon Basel told us via e-mail the General's committed to building their new 1.4-liter engine for the Chevy Volt and the turbo version for the Chevy Cruze (above) in Flint:

"Our plans to build the 1.4L Family 0 engine for the Volt and Cruze in Flint have not changed. In December we announced we would delay construction of a new plant. At that time we made decisions necessary to conserve capital. We continue to hold our timing, but yesterday it was necessary to make decisions on related construction contracts so we wouldn't incur any additional costs."

Additionally, Basel told the Flint News GM was examining all options — including using existing buildings on site.

Our take is GM's looking to cut every short-term cost possible as they try to buy time until a federal solution arises to the Carpocalypse. For the moment, the most pressing vehicle to bring to market is the Chevy Volt. Given the initial low volume, GM will import 1.4-liter engines...err..range extenders from their European plant. The Chevy Cruze has been pushed off a year, so the need for the Flint engine plant to be built right now doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Thus the delay announced late last year.

However, Flint should expect without further federal funds — or a pre-packaged bankruptcy of some sort — they won't be seeing that plant anytime soon.

CHEVROLET PRESENTS NEW CRUZE FOR 2009 WTCC
To Continue Chevrolet’s World Touring Car Success

ZÜRICH / WELLINGBOROUGH – Chevrolet Europe has shown the first glimpse of the marque’s 2009 World Touring Car Championship contender, today. The all-new Chevrolet Cruze, which recently premiered at the Paris Motor Show, will continue Chevrolet’s presence in the WTCC, in which the marque so far has won twelve world championship races.

Testing of the new race car – which is the first to start Chevrolet’s new design language in Europe – has already started and is on schedule, and will continue throughout the remainder of the current season and the coming winter. Developed, built, run and driven by the same team and drivers, the Cruze will be all but guaranteed the same speed, reliability and success. The Chevrolet Cruze’s first competitive outing will be in Brazil at the opening round of the 2009 WTCC in Curitiba. In 2009, the WTCC will again visit twelve tracks, in South and Central-America, Africa, Europe and the Far-East.
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Wayne Brannon: “Chevrolet has motorsport is deeply embedded in our DNA. With the new Cruze World Touring Car, Chevrolet continues to embrace its long tradition of winning on and off the track.. In the past four seasons, Chevrolet had distinguished itself in racing with an increasing number of victories, not so different from the record sales growth which has developed in Europe. Again this year, sales are up by 23 percent in the first six month, and we are very proud that customers are choosing us in record numbers. For our European dealers, the WTCC has been an extremely useful communications tool, and they look forward to the next season with Cruze. With Cruze, we again look to emphasize the synergy between product and motorsports, and the WTCC is the best possible platform to achieve this. The championship’s slogan is ‘Real Cars, Real Racing’, and that fits nicely with our philosophy to provide real cars for real lives, with expressive design, world class quality / reliability and an impressive list of standard features and content, all at an affordable price.”

Eric Nève: “The new Cruze will be the next milestone in Chevrolet Europe’s motorsports history. So far, we have achieved every goal we set in 2005, step by step: challenge the competition, score points, prove we can win and then become regular frontrunners against competition with an established motorsports resume. With the Cruze, we will put the bar even higher and firmly aim at winning the World Championship. Chevrolet’s unique ‘trump card’ is having worked with the same team, engineers and drivers for the past four seasons, with the success we all know. To be able to do this again with the Cruze will only help to increase our chances of achieving our goals.”

[GM Europe]

Despite the hype, and as I laid out in a piece today for Popular Mechanics, the Volt, Tesla Roadster, the upcoming plug-in Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight will not be what I'd call mass-market game-changers. More like mass-market hype. Sorry Dick and Jane Average, but unless your real name is Matt Damon, Katie Couric or Ariana Huffington, the high price (plus the added pricing on the sticker from the dealer) and low volume will put these technologically magical marvels of engineering outside your reach.

Unfortunately, it's Dick and Jane Average that will need higher fuel economy the most. That's where the Cruze comes in. When the news of the Cruze, the companion car to the Chevy Cobalt to be built at the General's Lordstown, Ohio plant, first broke with little in the way of details, it was the epitome of a non-event — another attempt by GM to produce something in the econobox range. No reason to think otherwise until the second press conference with GM CEO Rick Wagoner a week later. There he laid out expectations on fuel economy for the Cruze. Thanks to the turbocharged 1.4-liter four-banger under the hood, the Cruze is expected to get the astonishing fuel economy of "over 40 MPG."

Now 40 MPG may not be as good as what the Volt will get, but I can guarantee you it's better than what 98% of the auto-owning population is getting on the roads now. Add to that the Chevy Orlando, a concept MPV to be unveiled along with its platform-mate, the Cruze, at next month's Paris Motor Show. Unlike the Volt, which is all about the marketing of MPG, the Cruze lineup can give GM the upper hand in bringing MPG to the masses. And they've got some seriously sharp-as-a-knife looks.

If GM pulls off the Cruze at these fuel economy numbers and a price in line with the 30 MPG+ marketplace, then they may actually be on to something in the world of the appliance car — and that's what they'll really need to get the company through the first few of their next hundred years.

GM Announces $500 Million Investment for New Small Car

New Chevrolet Cruze to be built in Lordstown, Ohio

All-new Chevrolet Cruze Features Dramatic Design (Press Release)

Lordstown, OHIO – General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner today announced that the company will invest more than $500 million in the U.S. to build the Chevrolet Cruze, an all-new global compact car. The vehicle will be built at its Lordstown, Ohio plant. The Chevy Cruze will be officially unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in a few short weeks. In a surprise move, the investment announcement was accompanied by a glimpse of the Cruze life-size show property.

The investment in Lordstown is one of several that have been announced at U.S. plants in the past five years, adding up to over $2 billion total investment in Ohio and more than $20 billion in the United States. "One of the key reasons for the success of the Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 is the Lordstown workforce and the strong partnerships with the UAW and local and state officials," Wagoner said. "Based on the quality of work and these strong partnerships, we are pleased to announce our plans to invest another $500 million in the Chevy Cruze product program in the U.S., including more than $350 million in Lordstown."

Ed Peper, GMNA vice president of Chevrolet, spoke to GM's strong position in delivering fuel-efficient vehicles that consumers want to buy. "The Cruze will build on the already successful Chevrolet Cobalt, Cobalt XFE and Cobalt SS, all of which are nearly sold out in dealer showrooms," Peper said. "Our dealers are asking for many more Cobalts than we can build."

Chevrolet Cobalt sales are up 16 percent, year-to-date through July 2008, with an impressive 33 miles-per-gallonhighway. The new Cobalt XFE model jumps to 37 miles-per-gallon and is selling almost as soon as it's unloaded from the delivery trucks to dealerships.

The Chevrolet Cruze epitomizes the global nature of the automobile industry and General Motors' commitment to deliver fuel efficient, high-quality products. Cruze is the result of a development process harnessing GM's global design and engineering expertise. It is the first of a new family of compact Chevrolets that will continue the attention to quality, fuel efficiency, and strong value promise of the highly successful Malibu and all other vehicles under the Chevrolet brand.

"The Chevrolet Cruze was designed and engineered by our global teams in Europe and Asia Pacific and will be manufactured in those regions in addition to the assembly plant here in Lordstown, Ohio," Wagoner said. "Our goal for the Chevrolet Cruze is to lead in fuel economy in this very competitive car segment."

The new Cruze will be launched in Europe and Asia Pacific next year. It's scheduled to make its European debut at the Paris Motor Show in October.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 266,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 35 countries. In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.

Photo Credit: Getty Images / Bill Pugliano

All-new Chevrolet Cruze features dramatic design

Detroit - The first photographs of Chevrolet's all-new Cruze sedan - making its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show in October - reveal a dynamic four-door coupe that proves exciting design and value are not mutually exclusive.

On sale beginning in Europe from March next year, Cruze features a dramatic re-interpretation of the traditional sedan featuring Chevrolet's new global design language that is becoming a signature on all new products carrying the gold bowtie.

Cruze's arching roof-line, extending from the steeply raked windshield to its sloping rear pillars and short rear deck, brings coupe-like proportions to a compact sedan.

Wider and longer than most of its competitors, Cruze has a purposeful stance with its wheels located at the outer edges of the tautly drawn bodywork. Noticeably tight body panel fits and a restrained use of exterior trim add to a high quality, 'hewn from solid' appearance.

Cruze's dramatic profile is matched by bold front styling, with large headlamp housings that wrap around the front corners and sweep up, arrow-like, into the fenders and sculpted hood. Other distinct design themes include a concave shoulder line, the two-tier grille and a "wheels-out/body-in" stance. Inside, Cruze features a 'twin cockpit' design motif, first introduced in the iconic Corvette sports car.

"Our goal in designing Cruze was to be bold, not evolutionary," says chief designer Taewan Kim. "We wanted to take a big step forward, making a strong design statement for Chevrolet products around the world."

Visitors to the Paris show will see how Chevrolet's progressive design is also reflected in the quality of Cruze's interior. The use of grained surfaces, soft-touch materials and low gloss trim panels ensures a quality ambience that echoes the clean, harmonious design of the exterior.

At launch in Europe, Cruze will be available with 16-valve, 1.6-liter (112 hp/82 kW) and 1.8-liter (140 hp/103 kW) gasoline engines featuring variable valve timing (VVT) on both inlet and exhaust sides, giving more power as well as better fuel economy and lower emissions. A new 2.0-liter turbo diesel, developing 150 hp/ 110 kW and 320 Nm of torque adds power with even greater frugality. Five-speed manual gearboxes and an all-new automatic transmission, Chevrolet's first six-speed application in the compact segment, complete the powertrain menu.

With sales in Europe up by 23 percent for the first six months of 2008, Chevrolet is GM Europe's fastest-growing mainstream brand. The arrival of Cruze spearheads an exciting new product roll-out program that is expected to propel the brand to even greater success.

"We are proud that Europe is leading the introduction for this global product," said Wayne Brannon, Executive Director, Chevrolet Europe. "Chevrolet has always stood for expressive value and Cruze delivers on that promise like never before. It further redefines Chevrolet with its design, quality, materials and great style inside and out. The fit and finish for gaps and interfaces sets a new standard for this segment in Europe and around the world."

Cruze is the result of a development process harnessing GM's global expertise and is the first of a new family of compact products that will deliver world class quality. It will be backed by expected highest scores in all major crash safety ratings.

The Chevrolet Cruze will be available in Europe from March 2009, followed by other global markets with regional-specific engine choices.

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Jalopnik Snap Judgment: So what do we think of the interior of the 2010 Chevy Cobalt? It looks pretty darn good for an car sitting in a segment we hope we never have to buy in. Although we were initially a little concerned with the colors on the first shot of the Cruze's interior, the two-tone color scheme of the dash and seats, good curves and rounded edges — it looks pretty snazzy to us. What else do we expect from a brand that's done wonders to the interior of the new-for-2008 Chevy Malibu? [The Car Fanatic]