First Look At New Holden Cruze Hatch

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – March 16, 2011: Holden has released the first images of the all-new Holden Cruze hatchback which goes into production at Holden’s Vehicle Operations in South Australia later this year.

The highly-anticipated hatchback version of the Cruze was designed by Holden’s Port Melbourne design studio and will be sold as the Holden Cruze in Australia and as a Chevrolet Cruze around the world.

The Cruze hatch with its sweeping coupe roofline and short overhangs was first shown as a concept at the Paris Motor Show followed by the Chevrolet production version which made its world premier in Geneva earlier this month.

Images of Holden’s own model were shown to Australian motoring media for the first time as part of the national launch of the new Australian-made Series II Cruze sedan in Melbourne this morning.

Holden Design Director, Tony Stolfo, said Cruze hatch highlighted the breadth of skill in the Holden Design Studio.

“The Holden design team works on a range of global design projects from small hatchbacks like the new Cruze to large wheel drive performance vehicles and also a number of exciting vehicles yet to be revealed,” Mr Stolfo said.

"The Cruze sedan is already a huge hit in Australia – so it was rewarding to work on a global project that we would also be able to adapt specifically for Australia.

“In designing the new five-door hatch we wanted to retain the sporty ‘Cruze’ proportions and bring the same Holden appearance to the hatch that we developed for the new locally-built Series II Cruze sedan.

“Holden is very proud of the global design work it does for other brands and countries around the GM world – but it’s especially gratifying to work on a new vehicle designed and built in Australia.”

The Holden Design Studio is an important part of General Motors global design network and is one of only GM three facilities in the world with the capability to design and build prototype concept vehicles for exhibitions and international auto shows.

The new Cruze hatch will join the sedan, which is already the best-selling small sedan in Australia, in Holden showrooms in the last quarter of 2011.

The new locally-built Series II Cruze sedan line-up has been engineered for the Australian market and boasts new powertrains including the new efficient and fun-to-drive 1.4 iTi petrol models and the most fuel-efficient car made in Australia, the 2.0 litre turbo diesel manual Cruze.