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That’ll be the Daewoo

Aug 22, 2008
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The last time they made a car called the Chevrolet Cruze, it was a rebodied Suzuki Wagon R:

2001 Chevrolet Cruze

and, before Holden started selling Daewoo Kaloses, was considered the worst model in its range when it was rebadged with the Aussie lion on the grille.
This time, it seems Chevrolet Cruze will be the export name for the Daewoo Lacetti replacement in Europe and the US. It doesn’t look very American at all—as usual, it looks Korean, which it is. The good news is that the platform is shared with the next Opel Astra and engineered in Rüsselsheim.

2009 Chevrolet Cruze (front three-quarters)

The front grille is reminiscent of the Gentra, though the lights are more aggressive. The rear is similar to the Daewoo Tosca:

2009 Chevrolet Cruze (rear)

Speaking of dodgy Daewoos, I saw, in the metal, the new Holden Barina—Daewoo Gentra X in its country of origin—and the transformation is not very pleasant. The grille does not have a centralized Holden lion badge: it’s placed higher within the grille. Here’s the original Korean model as on Autocade for reference:

I imagine that New Zealand is not going to be far behind Australia, given that the news reports of the facelifted Barina only appeared in the Aussie press earlier this week. Admittedly, I thought I was looking at a Škoda Fabia at first glance, then I had the misfortune of seeing the rest of it. I just hope, for buyers’ sake, this car is safer than the old Kalos.