Holden Cruze Hatch Enters Production Ahead Of November Debut

HOLDEN CRUZE HATCH

Production of Holden's all-new Cruze hatch kicked off in South Australia this week, ahead of its sales debut early next month. The news follows the announcement of specifications and pricing in September.

“With Cruze hatch models going into production this month we’re now building 51 models across the global small car and Commodore short and long wheel base architectures, all on the same line," Holden Chairman and MD Mike Devereux said.

“As global economic conditions changed we set ourselves a very clear goal to be profitable first and foremost on our domestic business. This means building in Australia the large and small cars that Australians really want to drive. 

Local design and production has also given Holden the freedom to develop an even more Australia-focused tune for the new Cruze hatch and sedan range.

Although the Cruze hatch will be sold in numerous markets around the world - mostly as a Chevrolet - Holden says it put 140,000 kilometres into the Australian phase of testing alone.

"This helped us develop a number of enhancements for the hatch which we’ve also applied to the model year 2012 Cruze sedan,” Cruze Program Engineering Manager Peter Siablis said.

“When customers get behind the wheel next month we think they’ll feel the suspension changes we’ve made which improve steering response, ride quality and add a sense of refinement to the overall driving experience.”

The Cruze hatch range and pricing mirrors the Cruze sedan, driven by GM's 1.4iTi and 1.8 litre petrol engines, along with a 2.0 litre diesel.

• Click here for more details on the entire Cruze range.