Chevy Cruze Tries To Crack Small-Car Market

Chevy Cruze

I was driving on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey when I spotted a car I didn’t immediately recognize, at least not from behind. As I caught up with it I was impressed by its attractive shape and subtle chrome accents. Is that a Chevrolet badge on the trunk? Oh — that’s the new Cruze compact sedan.
Wait a minute – I’m driving one of those.
Sometimes you have to see a car in motion to appreciate its looks. Even after days of test-driving the Cruze I didn’t consider it especially handsome until I saw someone else driving one. Sure, it looks fine sitting still. But on the highway, where small cars tend to look like endangered species searching for a place to hide, the Cruze looks wide, muscular and confident — like it belongs there.
That’s part of the image Chevrolet wants to project as it positions the new Cruze to compete with the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic, the long-established powerhouses of the compact segment. In the past, Chevy’s entries in the market have fallen short of consumers’ expectations, sometimes by a great distance. Its predecessor the Cobalt was bland and seemed to be designed for rental fleets. Before that car arrived, the long-running Cavalier built a reputation as a perennial money-loser.
One advantage for the Cruze is its size. It is a bit longer than its rivals but appears to be significantly larger on the outside. Styling is attractive, with a look that is bolder than the Corolla and Civic but more mature than the Mazda3.