DETROIT – General Motors North America President Alan Batey expects the ’17 Chevrolet Cruze hatchback to inject the brand with youthful vigor and sees it adding incremental sales to the automaker right out of the gate despite being the new kid on the block.
“It attracts a younger audience than the sedan,” Batey tells WardsAuto shortly after the Cruze 5-door takes the stage here at the North American International Auto Show. “We’ve positioned it to be sporty and attract those young, fashion-conscious consumers that are looking for something in the compact segment.”
The Cruze hatch shares the same wheelbase and 1.4L turbocharged 4-cyl. as the redesigned ’16 sedan, but gets its own roof and rear structure. The hatch also adds an integrated spoiler over the liftgate and wrap-around taillamps.
But the kicker is the 47.2 cu. ft. (1,336 L) of available cargo space with the rear seats folded, providing the versatility younger, active people like.
The economics of the hatch make sense, too, Batey says. The outgoing Cruze hatch sells in about 40 countries, excluding the U.S., so adding it to the portfolio here with the sedan’s redesign this year was relatively inexpensive.
“We clearly need a hatchback around the world, so we had it in our arsenal and with pretty low cost we were able to add it to the U.S. portfolio,” he says.
GM did not do that when it launched the Cruze to replace the toothless Cobalt in 2010, calling it a mistake of bankruptcy- influenced product planning. This time around, a U.S. hatch made even more sense with small-car sales now in the 3 -million-unit range annually. About 1.2 million of those deliveries were 5-door models, according to WardsAuto data, good for 13.2% of all car sales.
“What we looked at was the compact- car segment continues to be one of the biggest here in the U.S.” Batey says. “This is a great opportunity.”
Batey also expects the Cruze hatch to hit the ground running despite being a newcomer to the segment because of the success of the previous-generation Cruze sedan. Last year, the Cruze finished as a top-10-selling car in the U.S. on volume of 226,602 units.
“We had the same challenge when we brought (out) Cruze to replace Cobalt,” Batey says. “Cobalt was not a leader. The Cruze has been a leader, so we’re able to conquest quickly and I have no doubt we will be successful with the hatchback.”
Batey, who also serves global brand champion for the Chevy brand, does not commit to a high-performance version of the Cruze hatch, but, given the popularity of “hot hatches” in the segment, it would seem inevitable. For the time being, the hottest Cruze hatch will be an RS appearance package. It arrives at dealers in the fall from GM’s Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, assembly plant.
