IndiBlog

GM India is bringing in the latest series Chevrolet Optra to India by middle of 2009. The car would be christened Chevrolet Cruze and will be sold alongside the Optra but at a higher price point of Rs. 12-13 lakh. The Cruze has been developed by GM-DAT (Daewoo) but is expected to be on par with the Civic and Jetta in terms of fit and finish and performance levels. The Cruze is also a much larger car, comprable in size to the VW Passat or Hyundai Sonata. The Cruze has it's world premiere scheduled at the Paris Motor Show in October' 2008. GM would be plonking an all new 1.8 litre petrol engine along with the 150 bhp diesel unit from the Chevrolet Captiva. This 2 litre 150 bhp variable geometry diesel mill would make the Cruze a blast to drive and maybe the best performing diesel saloon in it's class. The Cruze would be the first car model to roll out of GM's new plant at Chakan near Pune.

I expect the Cruze to sell well, especially the diesel version which would offer tremendous performance coupled with reasonable fuel bills.