DetN: Chevrolet Cruze to Get 45mpg

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

The last we heard (yesterday), GM NA VP of Chevy said the new Cruze will be "targeting having the best fuel economy in the small-car segment with Cruzeclass-leading mpg." Har-har. But seriously folks, where did the Detroit News come up with its new headline " GM plans $500M for 45-mpg small car." Extrapolation? Nope. Expectation. "The Cruze is expected to get about 45 miles per gallon and serve as a counter-punch to $4-per-gallon gasoline once it goes into production in April 2010." There's nothing in GM's press release suggesting that kind of fuel efficiency. The Freep reports "The Cobalt is rated at 33 highway miles per gallon and the new Cobalt XFE model gets 37 m.p.g. on the highway. The Cruze is expected to get closer to 40 m.p.g." UPDATE: TTAC commentator Buick61 quotes Edmunds to provides an explanation: “On August 12, Beth Lowery, GM’s vice president of environment, energy and safety policy, told the Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Michigan, that the Cruze will get better gas mileage than the vehicle it replaces — the current Chevrolet Cobalt. 'The Chevy Cruze will get an additional nine miles per gallon in fuel economy when it debuts in 2010 [versus the Cobalt].'"

Robert Farago
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  • KixStart KixStart on Aug 25, 2008

    Buick61: "You obviously haven’t been watching TV this summer. Toyota has been pushing their own futureTech/Vaporware for months now." Seriously? I haven't noticed any such Toyota ads. What futureware/vaporware do they feature? Buick61: "And even last year they had the commerical showing people making a Prius out of branches and grass, and the voice over speaks to Toyota working to create zero-emissions vehicles and “striving for zero waste in everything we do.”" That ad features a real car. And Toyota did make a pretty sizeable effort to make the car more "sustainable." There was discussion of that when it first came out. I forget what all goes into the Prius but some of the parts are made of things that surprised me. By the same token, popping corn appears to give you a Chevrolet. How much corn is used to build a Chevrolet?

  • Mirko Reinhardt Mirko Reinhardt on Aug 25, 2008

    @ psarhjinian A really small, low-power diesel. Think 90hp or less. Think Smart CDI. The Smart CDI has 45 tire-shredding horsepower. A 45 mpg highway rating isn't unheard of in larger diesel cars. A BMW 330d has a 49 mpg (US) European highway rating. (and 245 horsepower) A 320d has a 57 mpg highway rating. The Cruze is a bit longer than a 3-series.

  • Buick61 Buick61 on Aug 25, 2008
    KixStart : August 25th, 2008 at 7:22 am Buick61: “You obviously haven’t been watching TV this summer. Toyota has been pushing their own futureTech/Vaporware for months now.” Seriously? I haven’t noticed any such Toyota ads. What futureware/vaporware do they feature? Buick61: “And even last year they had the commerical showing people making a Prius out of branches and grass, and the voice over speaks to Toyota working to create zero-emissions vehicles and “striving for zero waste in everything we do.”” That ad features a real car. And Toyota did make a pretty sizeable effort to make the car more “sustainable.” There was discussion of that when it first came out. I forget what all goes into the Prius but some of the parts are made of things that surprised me. By the same token, popping corn appears to give you a Chevrolet. How much corn is used to build a Chevrolet? The commerical features a plug-in Prius. How much more vaporware do you need. Where can I buy such a car from Toyota? And the point is, the second commercial talks about Toyota trying to make zero emissions vehicles. Well, whoopdeedoo. They're advertising something they don't have.
  • Joeaverage Joeaverage on Aug 25, 2008

    Rather than waiting for another two years for all that Cruz development, why don't they just release this drivetrain NOW in the Aveo, Astra, and Cobalt and give us whatever gains they can in MPG? The Aveo for one needs another 5 mpg to be credible to me. A car that small and that new ought to get 40 mpg average. I'll give my 11 year old VW some slack. It weighs much more (convertible) and has an "old tech" engine that only matches the Aveo on the highway and betters it in town at 29 mpg where an Aveo is likely to be most content (low speeds). Heck even my 9 year old AWD CR-V betters the Aveo around town in mileage. With 162K miles. Release the drivetrain in those three cars now and then use the money they save on the Cruz to upgrade the Aveo, Astra, and Cobalt to better materials so it is a better quality car that lasts longer. A side benefit is that they can start building those quality names like Corolla and Civic that people instantly recognize as durable vehicles that people careful with their money buy. Or... Just make me an electric Aveo GT with 100 miles range and a 150K+ mile NiMH battery lifetime just like the RAV4-EV of 2003 fame. 0-60 times can be equal to the gas car and I'd be happy.

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