GM Retaining Current Malibu, Cruze As Fleet Specials, Diesel Dead For 2016

by Derek Kreindler

March 19th, 2015 7:54 AM

gm retaining current malibu cruze as fleet specials diesel dead for 2016

Although all-new versions of the Chevrolet Cruze and Malibu are set to debut by the end of the year, GM will retain the current versions as fleet-only vehicles, dubbed the “Cruze Limited” and “Malibu Limited”.

While the Malibu Limited will be available in LS, LT and LTZ trims, the lone powertrain will be the 2.5L I4. The Cruze will drop the diesel variant, but retain the “Eco” version, as well as the manual transmission option.

#Chevrolet #ChevroletCruze #ChevroletMalibu #Diesel #GeneralMotors #GM

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Brettc on Mar 19, 2015

Is there any data out there from GM as to how many diesel Cruzes they have sold since the introduction in the summer of 2013? All I can find is sad numbers from Green car congress from 2014. Ironically, I was at Epcot last week and went on the GM commercial that is called "Test Track". At the end of the ride there is a brown Cruze TD sitting there amongst the other fine GM automobiles. I don't think selling them in the $27000 range has helped at all. VW finally decided to offer a base TDI last year starting in the low 20s, which is what Chevy should also offer as an option.

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- Carrera on Mar 19, 2015
  
  Brett, I was also at Epcot and spent some time with that diesel Cruz. That's when I noticed that there was no room in the back seat and the vehicle should only be seen as a commuter. So, do we need a 25-27k commuter vehicle? If it can serve as a family car then yes. I tried to engage the dealer personnel there but they weren't familiar with the diesel at all. Those guys dont work for Disney but for GM or for a company contracted by GM. While they Cruz had leather, it felt cheap inside. The door closed without a reassuring "thump". It is OK in a 17-18k car. Not in a 25k one. No way.
  
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- Brettc on Mar 20, 2015
  
  @Carrera My favourite part was that they disabled the hood and trunk/hatch releases on all the cars. I guess I have to visit my friendly local Chevy dealer to get a better look at the important things. The wife and I test drove a 2013 1.4 turbo and 2.0 TD Cruze in the summer of 2013 when the diesels first appeared. The gas engine was weak, not enough torque. The diesel was nice but the price was insane for what they were offering. So we ended up buying a Jetta SE when the 1.8 TSI became available a year later. We were in no rush and GM's offering wasn't very impressive.
  
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Aphidman on Mar 20, 2015

I have owned a Cruze Diesel for four months now and enjoy it a lot (it’s my mid-life crisis car). GM put a significant amount of money and effort into getting its engine into compliance with US and EU regulations and it is surprising that they would turn around and dump it. I am also wondering, as others have, if this story only refers to the fleet model. Marketing support for the diesel model has been practically non-existent. I’m not sure why. The fuel price difference between diesel and regular gasoline has been mentioned by others. In Calgary this week, diesel is only 3¢/litre more expensive than regular gas, and considerably cheaper than premium. (3 months ago, the difference was 30¢, but oilpatch demand for diesel has collapsed.)

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- Quentin on Mar 20, 2015
  
  How is a Cruze Diesel a midlife crisis car? It is a perfectly practical and reasonable car except for being a hair more expensive for what you normally pay for a non-luxury compact sedan.
  
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- Lie2me on Mar 20, 2015
  
  @Quentin "How is a Cruze Diesel a midlife crisis car?" Lol, sounds more like a mid-life disappointment car
  
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- Corey Lewis on Mar 20, 2015
  
  @Lie2me LOL! Calvin is on a roll today.
  
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- Aphidman on Mar 20, 2015
  
  @Quentin I decided to do my mid-life crisis differently from other guys (the car is blue-ray metallic, not red, and my trophy wife is my first/current wife). A sports car is the obvious thing to get at this time in my life, but when I was honest with myself, I realised that I do a lot of long highway trips that I enjoy. And I wanted something a bit unusual. The Cruze Diesel fit that description. It had been a demonstrator, so the price was discounted. The seats are comfortable. The toys are nice. The torque is enjoyable. The pick-up is way better than my old Santa Fe. And the highway range is amazing. I have gone 970 km on one tank, on a trip with 4 people and their luggage, in bitter cold. Oh, and the engine started first time after being outside overnight in -36C temperatures, which impressed the heck out of me. It is the first car that I ever got to choose by myself, for myself. When I was a student, my father found a car for me, and after school I started a family right away, so it was station wagons and minivans and old used Santa Fes. So that makes it special for me too.
  
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Recent Comments

SCE to AUX Historically, the Land Cruiser sold ~3000 units annually in the US for its last 15 years, so the answer is no.
Theflyersfan Oh boy - the sequential manual transmission. Otherwise known as "Your 16 year old driving stick the first time is smoother" transmission. I know automakers were trying new things out around this time and seeing what would stick (hint: the dual clutches won out), but even in testing, the Toyota engineers should have said いいえ、ジャンクです。(No. It's a piece of junk.) Is this seller going to get $8500? Doubt it. Way too much interior work is needed and it just looks worn out in there. St. Petersburg - salt air year round can do some wonders under the cover as well. But the exterior still looks good which makes me thing it was garage kept. So, for $8,500 - no chance. But for maybe $5,500 to $6,000 and the buyer doesn't mind some extra work to clean up the interior, maybe a decent top down sun down fun car. Just hope the transmission holds up.
Dukeisduke Only if there's a significant price difference between it and the Lexus GX. Otherwise, no. If they do bring it over, they'll have to ditch that ugly grille.
Theflyersfan Chris here just gave me a big old dose of nightmare fuel with this. Let me explain... This past Saturday, driving home after doing some furniture shopping. I-64 Westbound is closed for extensive repairs in my part of Louisville so I had to take surface streets home. No problem as it's basically a straight shot from said furniture store to my domicile. Now, I had that recent spinal fusion surgery in my neck complete with four screws, some plates, artificial bone, and the chance that things might not have healed correctly so things are a bit tender and sore still. Driving home in a part of the area named St. Matthews when I pass a Walgreens. Barreling out of this Walgreens and totally ignoring the stop sign, and situational awareness of ANYTHING around him is a truck, very similar to the one shown above. Same color even. It's a four lane road - main drag through town. I'm in the inside lane and this 7,000 pound monstrosity is suddenly feet from turning an MX-5 into shrapnel. Top is down, had my wits, quickly downshift and manage to do a wild u-turn like move into the oncoming traffic lanes but avoided the hit. The neck, however, didn't like the strain and trauma and sent parts of my body into fits of limited sensations and pain. The truck driver, realizing what he's done suddenly stops. My top is down, windows are down, and we make eye contact as I pull alongside the person I have suddenly wished death on inside a flaming pit. And if I repeat the sentences of what was yelled at that jack***es face, I'll be on insta-ban here in milliseconds. He yells over, "Man, I'm sorry...I didn't see ya!" Well, ***face, learn what a stop sign means and scan the scene first. And get something that you can see over and in front instead of the blind spots that hide everyone under the age of 14 in front of the truck. So, I'm all for forcing these overdone, oversized, overfed, overstyled, guzzling, tiny-genital compensating redneck wannabe road monsters taken out back and put to rest and we return to normalcy. Made it home hurting like hell and tests were done today to check for further injury. And that Mazda can turn and spin on a dime... Try that move in that Sierra AT4XBZQZW8! whatever.
Dukeisduke I've read stories about that air suspension system - insanely high pressures, and crazy expensive to repair. I loved the Mark VIII's styling back then, but it definitely hasn't aged well.Also:"Mark VII was the first Mark available with dual front airbags..." Did you mean Mark VIII?