Development of the upcoming Holden Cruze Hatchback continues apace, as our new photos of a camouflaged left-hand-drive test car reveal.

While production of the local Cruze Hatchback will kick off at Holden's South Australian plant late next year, the Cruze is a global model, offered in most markets with a Chevrolet badge.

Importantly for Holden, the Cruze Hatchback concept revealed at the Paris Auto Show in September was designed and built here in Australia, further cementing the company's role as a major development centre for parent General Motors.

Although the camouflage of this test car has obscured all the parts readers will be keen to see, Holden's design boss Richard Ferlazzo admitted in September that much of what we saw with the concept's lines will make their way to the production model.

• Click to learn more about the Holden Cruze
  
• Click to read TMR's reviews of the Holden Cruze
  

Despite its seemingly smaller shape, Holden says luggage capacity in the rear of the Cruze Hatchback is "close" to the 400 litre capacity of the Cruze sedan, and the rear seats feature a 60/40 split fold.

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• reply ” like !

  

  MotorMouth says,
  3 years ago

  I hope Holden keep the Chevy grille, it looks infinitely better than what they put on the sedan now and better than the CG picture in this month's Wheels, too.
• reply ” like !

  

  Super Mattthew says,
  3 years ago

  Ah, the wonders of personal taste, haha. I definitely prefer the Holden grille!
• reply ” like !

  

  MotorMouth says,
  3 years ago

  Don't get me wrong, I think they all look ugly and ruin what is otherwise a very nice looking car. It's just that the current chrome sash is far too busy when combined with the horrible headlights. The front end needs simplifying and I reckon the Chevrolet grille does that pretty well. If they could do something with the headlights too, then they might be able to make it look OK.
• reply ” like !

  Anthony Mindel says,
  3 years ago

  1 like

  I think the sedan shape will suit this car better,hatch is a bit ugly...
• reply ” like !

  

  5 valve per cylinder says,
  3 years ago

  Good effort from Holden.
  
  Also hoping Opel will be able to get in ( as an independent ) with their Astra and Corsa even in small numbers.
• reply ” like !

  

  Terri10 says,
  2 years ago

  1 like

  Noticed in the weekend press that GM have confirmed that the local content will be "almost 25%" for the Cruze models with the most local content.
  Dissapointing that the "Australian assembled" Cruze will still be well over 75% imported - this could have been much better for Australian jobs, but typically the American Government owned GM cares little for Australia.
• reply ” like !

  

  MotorMouth says,
  2 years ago

  That is hardly the reason. The engines would require an entire factory of their own and are already built in lower cost countries, so why would any company bother? Then there are things like glass that can be manufactured far more cheaply in China, even taking shipping costs into account. If Holden aren't going to source local glass for the bespoke Commodore, they are hardly likely to see any economic sense in doing it for Cruze, which is also made in other countries. I think you'd be surprised at the local content of Commodore and Falcon too, especially the V8s with their imported engines. I doubt it is much more than 50%. It is the simple reality of a global market and 25% is infinitely better than zero, which is what every other car company puts into the small cars they sell here.
  • reply ” like !

    

    Terri10 says,
    2 years ago

    1 like

    Actually, yes I do know roughly what the percentages of local content are. (No I'm not going to be a goose and out the source or reveal the actual numbers). I've known about the Cruze percentage for a while and no-one believed me - now it's been made public by GM themselves. Not forgetting that 25% is the BEST figure in the range and some are quite a bit lower.
    The order for local content goes like this:
    Camry 4cyl
    Falcon V8 & 6cyl
    Camry V6 (Aurion)
    * Daylight
    Commodore
    * More daylight
    Cruze
    
    
    BTW Falcon doesn't have an imported V8 engine, just components. Actually the Falcon V8 engine has more local content than the GM Holden Cruze.