Rep Power: 595

The Chevrolet Cruze has become an exceptionally popular compact sedan in China and is giving other compact sedans, such as the Ford Focus, a run for its money in China. It could be that the Cruze’s adverts which featured Michael Scofield from the hit show Prison Break (which was never actually aired in China, but gained a cult following on the internet), thanks to Scofield’s prison break style advert where he is being pursued through a city by the usual goons in trucks and helicopter, the Cruze has become a big hit – in September alone it sold 17,300 units.

The addition of the Buick Excelle XT in 1.6T form earlier this year kick started GM’s turbo days in China, that 170bhp 1.6T engine is now getting transfered into the Chevrolet Cruze to further its big winning sales formula in China by punting it to those who really wish to be Michael Scofield as he pretends to escape from bad guys (Traffic Police) and goons (Cheng Guan). The Cruze Turbo will be sold in China initially with a 6 speed manual gearbox to attract petrol heads, but will likely introduce an auto version sometime in the not so distant future, pricing is expected to start at around the 150,000rmb to 160,000rmb marker.

The interior of the turbo Cruze seems to have been updated over the regular model, and also the exterior has been updated; fresher alloy wheels taken from the North American version of the Cruze seem to give it a much more powerful stance. The launch date has been set as November, as to which day we are not entirely sure but we will keep you tuned.



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