GM Preparing Demo Fleet of 202HP Cruze EVs for South Korea

South Korea is really getting serious about electric vehicles. Following the news last week of a Kia CUV EV to join Hyundai's BlueOn i10, GM has announced it will build a demonstration fleet of battery-powered Chevrolet Cruze sedans from the end of October.

The cars will be deployed in Seoul, with GM planning on testing them in other, unspecified urban markets at a later date. The idea is to test the market needs and consumer acceptance of battery electric vehicles and to gather data on real-world driving patterns and charging behavior.

The demonstration vehicles will be badged both as Daewoos (as the Lacetti Premiere) and Chevrolets (as the Cruze), despite the fact the latter is not sold in South Korea.

The project is a joint venture between GM Daewoo, LG Chem (who make the batteries) and LG Electronics (who make the motor and invertors). GM and LG Chem have been working together since 2008 with this being their second project together after the Chevrolet Volt.

The Cruze EV features an underbody-mounted 31-kwh battery and an electric motor producing 150 kw (equal to 202-horsepower). Tthe demonstration vehicles can sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (62mph) in 8.2 seconds and reach a maximum speed of 165 km/h (102.5 mph). Tests by LG Chemical estimate that the driving range could be up to 160 km, with a recharge time of 8 to 10 hours on a standard 220 volt outlet.

GM has yet to reveal how many cars will be built or who exactly will be testing them, though these details will probably come with the launch October.

By Tristan Hankins

VIDEOS: 2011 Chevrolet Aveo, Captiva Facelift, Orlando MPV and Cruze Hatchback

As promised, here are the respective promotional videos of Chevrolet's Paris Motor Show-bound Aveo sub-compact, Captiva 7-seater SUV, Orlando 7-seater MPV and the Cruze five-door hatchback. From these four cars, only the Aveo has been confirmed for the U.S market with sales of both the five-door variant and the yet-to-be-revealed sedan model to start sometime in 2011.

Chevy Cruze Hatchback Interior Snapped before Paris Unveiling

While we're on the topic of bringing you pics of GM's debuts, here is the interior of the Paris Motor Show Cruze Hatchback. Much like the Orlando, the interior shouldn't come as a shock. After all, this is just a Chevy Cruze wearing a backpack.

The Cruze Hatchback, which was designed by Holden in Australia, will appear in Paris as a pre-production Chevy show car; however, as we recently showed you, it will also appear Down Under wearing a Holden nose and badges. As for North America, there's no telling as of right now (but keep your fingers crossed).

Under the hood we'll get the regular Cruze engine options, meaning your choice of a 113-horsepower 1.6-liter (gas), a 141-horsepower 1.8-liter (gas), or a 123-horsepower 2.0-liter turbodiesel. One wonders if the car may one day show up with the Orlando's high-output diesel engine.

Either way, the new Focus hatchback is going to have some stiff style competition when vying for consumer cash. Oh, and we need to get a high-output gasoline four-banger under the hood pronto to give the Focus ST something to worry about.

By Phil Alex

_____________________________________________________________________

Cruze Hatchback: The Looker that Holden Designed and our Artist's Impression of the Production model

The Cruze sedan has been on sale in other markets for a while now. With it finally coming to the States, GM hopes to keep what momentum it has going by debuting the Holden-designed Cruze hatchback in Paris (full details in our previous post). A production version of the damn-fine hatchback is just around the bend, so it's no surprise that Holden will also get its own sleek 5-door Cruze.

Look no further than right above (and below for a larger image) for what a Holden Cruze Hatchback should look like. Holden's Cruze simply gets a different nose, badges, and right-hand drive to make it stand out from its Chevrolet brethren, meaning this pic we photoshopped (pound it down) should be fairly spot-on.

The Cruze Hatchback show car, designed and built by Holden at its Port Melbourne design studio, is the result of a year's worth of work using input from GM designers worldwide.

Richard Ferlazzo, Holden's chief designer, says, "Our brief was to create an alternative body style to the traditional sedan that retained the same dynamic proportions that has made Cruze such a success around the world. We are very proud of the result which will be tailored further for the Australian market and given an appearance consistent with the rest of the Holden portfolio next year."

Thankfully, this one looks so good and so production ready that GM would be hard-pressed to screw it up as much as they did the Orlando MPV.

By Phil Alex

(Photoshop: Carscoop)

__________________________________________________________________

Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback Show Car

Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback Wallpaper

Chevrolet Cruze hatchback Wallpaper

Chevrolet Cruze hatchback Wallpaper

Chevrolet Cruze hatchback Wallpaper

Revealed by GM ahead of its official debut.the Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback is a five- door car developed by Holden in Melbourne.

According to Holden chief designer Richard Ferlazzo, his team spent more than 12 months working with GM designers from across the globe to develop this car. “Our brief was to create an alternative body style to the traditional sedan that retained the same dynamic proportions that has made Cruze such a success around the world,” he said.

Apparently, the design of the Cruze hatchback that we see here is final, as the design team created the production car first, before adapting it to look suitably glamourous for a motor show. This means that once you take off those huge wheels and fancy headlamps, you’re looking at the production Chevy Cruze hatchback.

This five-door Cruze, which sits on GM’s Delta II platform like the Opel Astra, has neat proportions and shares styling cues with the sedan – the front end is mostly identical while the profile signature line and the placement of door handles are familiar. It remains to be seen if there’s any change to the “double cockpit” interior.

Australia currently imports the Cruze sedan from Korea, badging it as a Holden.

Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback Wallpaper

Chevrolet Cruze hatchback Wallpaper

Chevrolet Cruze hatchback Wallpaper

Chevrolet Cruze hatchback Wallpaper

Revealed by GM ahead of its official debut.the Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback is a five- door car developed by Holden in Melbourne.

According to Holden chief designer Richard Ferlazzo, his team spent more than 12 months working with GM designers from across the globe to develop this car. “Our brief was to create an alternative body style to the traditional sedan that retained the same dynamic proportions that has made Cruze such a success around the world,” he said.

Apparently, the design of the Cruze hatchback that we see here is final, as the design team created the production car first, before adapting it to look suitably glamourous for a motor show. This means that once you take off those huge wheels and fancy headlamps, you’re looking at the production Chevy Cruze hatchback.

This five-door Cruze, which sits on GM’s Delta II platform like the Opel Astra, has neat proportions and shares styling cues with the sedan – the front end is mostly identical while the profile signature line and the placement of door handles are familiar. It remains to be seen if there’s any change to the “double cockpit” interior.

Australia currently imports the Cruze sedan from Korea, badging it as a Holden.

Paris Preshow: Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback, goes on sale next year

A show car version of the new Cruze hatchback will be Chevrolet's star attraction at this year's edition of the Paris motorshow, which kicks off on September 30. Even though GM uses the term 'show car', the five-door hatchback version of the Cruze is virtually production ready minus some show-floor bling such as the blue hue on the headlamps, big wheels and the LED daytime running lights.

While keeping the front end and taut body lines of the sedan model, the refreshingly stylish hatch comes with a sweeping coupe-like roofline and a unique rear end treatment. GM has not yet issued any photos of the cabin, but don't expect any changes over the four-door saloon.

According to the automaker, cargo capacity for the Cruze hatchback is close to 400 liters and will feature 60/40 split rear seating.

The available engine range will most likely be identical to the sedan that is currently offered in Europe with two petrol engines, a 113HP 1.6-liter and a 141HP 1.8-liter, plus a 123HP 2.0-liter turbo diesel.

The new Cruze 5-door hatchback will go on sale across Europe mid 2011 with prices announced nearer the launch date. More markets will get the car shortly after, though GM has not said if North America will be one of them.

Wayne Brannon, president and managing director of Chevrolet Europe, beleives the addition of a hatchback version to the range will further bolster the car's sales.

"Hatchbacks play a critical role in many markets," said Brannon. "The total compact segment in Europe represents around 4.8 million units which is over a quarter of the total market, with hatchbacks representing around 65% of that volume. We therefore expect to see increased business in a number of regions, while sending out a signal that Chevrolet is now a serious mainstream player in Europe."

The Cruze hatch is one of four world Chevrolet premieres at the Paris show and will join the new Orlando MPV, Captiva SUV facelift and the new Aveo.

Chevrolet Cruze SUV Cars

Chevrolet Cruze SUV Cars

Chevrolet Cruze Sedan

Chevrolet Cruze Coupe

Chevrolet Wallpaper

Uploaded with Chevrolet Volt MPV5 Wallpaper



2011 Chevrolet Cruze ECO Wallpaper



2011 Chevrolet Cruze RS Wallpaper



Chevrolet Cruze Irmscher Edition Wallpaper



Hi-resolution Chevrolet Camaro Wallpapers



Chevrolet Camaro SS Wallpaper & Photos