Holden Cruze: Small Car, Right Stuff

By Jay Williams - 20/May2009

Melbourne, Australia – The Commodore has been the flagship car for Holden for decades now, but this could all be set to change with the all-new Holden Cruze small car.

Holden has labelled the Cruze a 'serious' small car and hopes to be a top three player in the segment. Full pricing for the new Holden small car is:

Cruze CD 1.8-litre petrol manual $20,990
Cruze CD 1.8-litre petrol auto     $22,990
Cruze CDX 1.8-litre petrol man   $23,990
 Cruze CDX 1.8-litre petrol auto   $25,990
 Cruze CD 2.0-litre diesel manual $23,990
 Cruze CD 2.0-litre diesel auto     $25,990

The all-new Holden Cruze will be built in South Korea and will go on sale in June.

However GM Holden will manufacture the Cruze in South Korea. Holden have plans to begin building the car right here in Australia from 2010, along side the Holden Commodore at the Elizabeth plant in South Australia.

The Australian car company is touting the Cruze as one of the safest and most well equipped small cars to ever wear the Holden badge.

With it's 5-star ANCAP safety rating and a starting price of $20,990 plus on road costs for the Cruze CD 1.8-litre petrol, the Holden Cruze is setting it's sights firmly on being the next best small car in the market.

The Holden Cruze is up against some stiff competition in the way of the Ford Focus, Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla, which all have a starting price of around $22,000 plus on roads, but with such a sold value equation, a low starting price and what will be strong marketing in the form of TV, Internet and print commercials, Holden could take a big chunk of the small car market.

Some of the Holden Cruze's safety features, standard across the range, include:

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)
Traction Control (TC)
Anti-lock Brakes (ABS)
Brake Assist (BA)
Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD)
Six airbags including driver, front passenger, front side and curtain airbags
 Seatbelt retractor and lap pretensioners with seatbelt load limiters

Safety will be the initial selling point for the Cruze and in 2009 two models will be offered in the Holden Cruze range: the entry-level CD and the higher spec CDX model that comes with sporty 17-inch alloy wheels.

Two engine variants will be available to customers: a 1.8-litre 4-cylinder petrol engine and a more expensive turbo charged diesel engine. The vital statistics of the motors are:

104kW of power and 176Nm of torque, or an optional 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo charged common rail diesel engine producing 110kW of power and 320Nm of torque.

1.8-litre petrol
Power: 104kW
Torque: 176Nm

2.0-litre diesel
Power: 110kW
Torque: 320Nm

Both engines offer a balance of fuel efficiency and power, with the Cruze CD manual using just 5.7-litres of fuel per 100km for the turbo diesel.

The same CD model with a manual gearbox but with the 1.8-litre petrol engine results in 7.0-litres per 100km for the petrol.

GM Holden Chairman and Managing Director, Mark Reuss, said the Cruze was a world-class small car that will deliver style, performance, safety and value for money.

"We’re excited by the potential for Cruze in a key marketplace for Australian buyers," Mr Reuss said.

"There are no excuses needed for this car. It has five-star safety, handles beautifully, looks great and provides high quality and low fuel usage," added the GM Holden boss.

With a price range between $21k and $26k even the range-topping sporty CDX models are not too expensive.

"It answers all the questions," boasts Mr Reuss.

There will be a choice of two drive-trains, a 5-speed manual transmission or a 6-speed automatic with Active Select, which is a tip-tronic manual override mode.

Some of the Holden Cruze features that will be standard across the range will include automatic headlamps, a 6-speaker audio system with MP3 compatible in-dash CD, power windows front and rear, air conditioning, steering wheel audio controls, trip computer and cruise control.

Looking at the standard equipment, it reads more like a Commodore than a small car.

Holden boasts that the Cruze has one of the most advanced interiors of any small car on the market, and Holden pride themselves on the fit and finish of the all-new Holden Cruze interior.

Judging from the photos the cabin does look very modern, but we'll talk about fit and finish after we review the car in a few weeks.

Contoured sport seats and a dual cockpit design house an advanced integrated centre panel that displays graphic information along with CD with MP3 readouts.

Holden claims the Cruze offers best-in-class interior space with generous rear passenger leg, head and shoulder room.

The new small car can comfortably seat five adults, which is fairly good for a small car.

Storage, functionality and convenience applications include 60/40 split rear seats, seatback pockets, centre console CD storage, a shopping bag hook and six cup holders.

On paper, the Holden Cruze looks and sounds very tempting, and when the Korean imports end in 2010 and Holden starts building the car in South Australia, the story will get even better.

We'll reserve judgement on the car until we test it in the next few weeks, but overall it looks like it could upset the balance of power in the small car market.

Related Links:
- Holden 4-cylinder Small Car (2010)
- Holden Ethanol E85 Commodore (2010)
- Holden Sportwagon SS V (Road Test)
- Holden AFM V8 + EcoLine (2009)
- Holden Captiva Diesel (Road Test)
- Holden Astra Diesel (Road Test)
- Holden Commodore Diesel (2009)
- Holden Calais V Sportwagon (Road Test)
- Holden Sportwagon (Road Test)
- Holden Commodore Hybrid (2010)
- Holden Coupe 60 Concept (2008)
- Holden VE Ute: SS vs SV6 (Road Test)
- Holden VE Ute (First Drive)
- Holden Coupe 60 Concept (2008)