Indian Autos blog

The 2011 Chevrolet Cruze debuts tomorrow in India with black interiors, slightly better plastic quality, iPod docking facility, Bluetooth with music pairing capability, vanity mirror with light and a single CD changer (replacing the 6 CD changer).

The teaser campaign is live on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/guesswhoisbackinblack

One has to cough up around 16k rupees extra for the improved Cruze. Watch out for the ads on Times Of India tomorrow morning.

The Cruze turned the fortunes for the then bankrupt GM like no other car. It looks like a muscle car but was designed in Korea and engineered by Opel. In that sense, the Cruze is truly a ‘Global Car.’ Back home as well, the Cruze dethroned the Honda Civic from its ‘Supreme’ spot as is now the better selling car in its segment along with the Toyota Corolla Altis Diesel.  [ Read More ]

The Chevrolet Cruze is making headlines and how!

Showcased at the Paris Motor Show back in 2008, and introduced in Europe last year followed by other markets, the Chevrolet Cruze has set the records tumbling by surpassing the 270,000 sales mark in little time. Even here in India, customers have shown great interest in this car which is expected with a petrol engine during the first quarter of 2011.

Chevrolet strengthened the Cruze range by adding an automatic transmission variant earlier this year. It has priced the vehicle very competitively and given it all the credentials of a driver-oriented diesel sedan.

The Chevrolet Cruze is now available in more than 60 nations. It is re-badged as a Daewoo in South Korea and as a Holden in Australia. If you take into account the re-badged vehicles’ sales figures, your count will easily surpass 340,000!

India is among the top 5 countries which having most demand for the Cruze – China, Russia, Mexico, India and Spain are its top 5 markets, in order.

Engineers developing cars are always used to their company’s financial arm dictating the outcome of the product. So to allow this, engineers would have to make some compromises on their product.

Anything can be compromised in a car, but safety. So engineers invent newer and economical ways to make sure that their cars have high safety standards. This is exactly what the engineers at General Motors have done for the Chevrolet Cruze.

The Chevrolet Cruze has been developed with the help of elaborate computer crash simulations. Crash simulations are ‘extreme’ computer programs which simulate the deformation and impact forces on the vehicle when a car crashes. The engineers use a crash simulation program to study the results of a crash and using the data to correct or re-engineer the model before the final prototype is built.

With the help of crash simulations, a countless important tests can be run on a single vehicle without even a scratch on the vehicle.

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Locally manufactured Chevrolet Cruze, RHD Captiva not affected by recalls

This missed our eye.

A week ago, General Motors India has assured that the Captiva and Cruze sold in India are not affected by the global recalls as they are right hand drive models and manufactured post the date of manufacture of recalled vehicles.

P Balendran, Vice President (Corporate Affairs), General Motors India -

There is absolutely no connection of the recalls in Korea to the Indian operations and as such there are no recalls here. The recalls only cover left hand drive vehicles while India is a right hand drive market. Though the Captiva is imported into the country as complete built unit from Korea, the car anyway was launched later than the time frame for which the recalls are stipulated.

GM recalled 45,957 units of Winstorm (Captiva) sports utlilty vehicles and 12,604 units of Lacetti Premiere (Cruze) compact sedans due to problems in their steering wheels or fuel hoses.

Micheal Vaughan tries flat-batting a colored cricket ball to paint a Chevrolet Cruze!

This isn’t some kinda April Fool’s joke.

Believe it or not, former English cricketer and captain of the historic 2005 Ashes campaign has nothing useful to do after he retired from international cricket. So he’s dug out his old bat, picked up a few cricket balls and paint and headed straight to a wall. He’ll then try creating the outline of the Chevrolet Cruze using his stroke play.

Michael Vaughan on his artwork -

Creating art with cricket balls is completely different, modern and new. It changes the rules of art because it’s instinctive and raw – covering a ball in paint and whacking or throwing it against canvas. A few of the other players initially took the mickey, but they are now “artballing” fans – and have had a go themselves

I have no idea what he just said.

Somebody give this man another job.

Press Release of this historic event attached after the jump!

Cruizing along the highway that consists of the Corolla, Civic and Laura

At the Paris Motor show in October 2008, GM revealed a compact sedan (in the American sense) named Cruze. A year later, the Cruze was launched here in India. Surprisingly, GM India chose to sail the diesel version before the petrol and only the manual version was decided to go with it. With just one engine option, hopes were not very high and the trusted Civic and Corolla, formed a ruthless opposition.

With Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corolla Altis & Honda Civic peeping from the top in the upper mid-size segment of the Indian automobile market, the Chevrolet Cruze has rattled the ladder with 1,100 pre-launch bookings giving rise to a possibility of a scary fall to those on the higher levels. Taking full advantage of the customers in the festive mood, the Cruze missile it seems, has hit the target.

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With such a bold stance, the Cruze is certainly a looker

GM India Introduces Chevrolet Cruze Sedan

Diesel performance, refinement and versatility redefine D- segment

Mumbai – General Motors India today launched the Chevrolet Cruze at a glittering ceremony in Mumbai. The all-new sedan with coupe-like design proportions, comfortable interiors and class leading features will be on sale from today. It will be offered in two variants – LT & LTZ in six exciting colors of manual transmission.

“Chevrolet has become a driving force in India’s vehicle market,” said Mr. P. Balendran, Vice President, GM India. “The Cruze has been receiving rave reviews since its recent debut in some other markets. The auto Journalists in India who had test driven the vehicle for their technical auto magazines and previews on TV channels have rated it as the best in its segment for its unique product attributes. It builds on the reputation of the brand for attractive design, great performance and outstanding fuel economy in the D-segment. We expect it to perform well against established D-segment players”, he further added.

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