It’s not shocking news to us at DBN that the Chevy Cruze has not caught on like the bigs at GM at hoped. I can even sense some concern in the quotes from the marketing folks at GM that maybe potential customers aren’t “sold” on a design that already looks dated and has no hatchbacks on the lots!
There could be trouble for the Cruze with a new Ford Focus entering the marketplace early next year and other nameplates launching new products in this segment. We were skeptical of some the projections from GM in regards to this car back in September and it looks like we might have been spot on!!!
The Cruze would have looked better if it was on the road a year or two ago but it just looks like one of the cars that is already outdated before it even had a chance to grow old!
From the Detroit Free Press:
Three months after launching, the Chevrolet Cruze is on the shopping lists of fewer than 5% of compact-car consumers, General Motors says.
With the arrival of a redesigned Ford Focus next month and a new Honda Civic in the spring, GM has a short window to ramp up the Cruze’s image.
Chevy needs consumers to associate the Cruze — which replaced the Cobalt — with value-priced safety and creature comforts before ads for Focuses and Civics again crowd the airwaves.
“I would say that’s pretty important,” Chevrolet marketing chief Chris Perry told the Free Press.
