Chevy Prices Cruze: $16,995 for Base 1.8, $22,695 for LTZ
GM has announced pricing on its next small thing, the Cobalt-replacing Cruze compact, and the new price of entry is $16,995. That’s about a $2,000 premium over the base Cobalt (which starts at $14,990), a price hike that is justified by Chevy’s high expectations for the Cruze. As Chevy’s Jim Campbell puts it
For the price of a compact car, Cruze offers the styling, safety features, roominess, amenities, and refinement of a much more expensive car.
Base prices for the Cruze’s main competitors are $16,200 for a Corolla, $16,415 for a Civic, $16,095 for a Mazda3, $16,170 for a Sentra, $17,040 for a Focus, $178,485 for a Jetta, $14,865 for an Elantra, and $14,390 for a Forte (including typical destination fees).
Chevy is highlighting the base Cruze’s value proposition, with the following comparison between the Cruze LS and the Honda Civic DX
But given the poor reviews that the base Cruze’s 1.8 liter engine has garnered abroad, the 1.4 liter turbocharged version is the one to get. That engine is available starting at $18,895, which is the entry point for both the LT trim level, and the high-efficiency “Eco” version. From there, the prices just keep going up. With LTZ models starting at an eye-popping $22,695, there will be some nice-looking Cruze models on dealer lots, but it begs the question: with loaded Chevy compacts headed into $25k (aka mid-sized sedan) territory, how much is Buick planning on charging for its forthcoming “premium” compact sedan? And will buyers overcome Chevy’s “perception gap” to pay a premium over competing Honda and Toyota models? Given that GM has essentially staked its entire compact car legacy (such as it is) on the Cruze, these issues simply can not be ignored…
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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I was at a customer clinic a couple of years ago that featured the Cruze. Good looking. Lots of room in the back seat.Price was targeted at that time at about the same as announced here, with the turbo and high MPG engine. Sitting in the Cruze was "familiar". I at first thought it was a heavily reworked ION/Cobalt from the aspect of seat height, width, headroom and visibilty from the driver's seat. It was the "hit" of the clinic for me and I liked it. I thought it was a ridiculous price, though. And that was long before the GM melt down. And the story is much as before: Cobalt was supposed to be GM's "premium" compact and was priced accordingly.Too high. GM has no credibility here. The didn't with the Cobalt. Or the Astra. And their past is littered with Citations, Chevettes, Vegas, Monzas, J Cars,etc. Not going there. My past experience with the Cobalt intro the dealer stocked perhaps 5 at most ; all overloaded and overpriced at 3-4 months after intro, still flogging their SUVs which were innumerable on their sales lot. I went and bought essentially the same car in the Saturn ION for $3-4000 less. I had a 99 Cavalier that had been perfectly reliable and I liked before it was totalled and had to be replaced.The Cobalt seemed a logical choice. The ION proved that GM's quality had back slid since 99. Saturn introduced the Astra with a 1.8 that was underpowered, used a timing belt, had a fussier maintenance schedule etc etc and cost more than Saturn buyers were used to seeing for their entry level car and image. It worked out so well for them. Why not use that business model on Chevrolet and their next small car ??? Thankfully I am not and will not be in the market for a new car for a long time to come, if ever. What a crock.The ION may not be much of a car but the engine, trans and body are bullet proof and will hold up for as long as I want to keep it. GM can go upscale all it wants be it will always be a low rent corner cutting mediocrity in the business. 2 or 3 years of improvement are meaningless after a legacy of pumping out garbage small cars for 40 years. Believe me: I cut that ION [and Cobalt] a lot of slack as the Delta is GM's best effort to date. But my and my family's overall experience with GM [the Cavalier seems more like an exception to the rule ] tells me that when the time comes: there's a Ford in my future.
Pretty expensive Jetta . . .