Chevrolet Cruze finalist for World Car of the Year, Camaro finalist for World Car Design of the Year

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The World Car Awards announced that Chevrolet Cruze is a finalist for the prestigious World Car of the Year Award, and the Camaro is a finalist for the World Car Design of the Year award. The winners will be announced at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday, April 1.

The Cruze is one of 10 finalists for the World Car of the Year award, as selected by a jury of 59 international automotive journalists, based on their experience with each candidate as part of their professional work. The jury members constitute a balance of representation from Asia, Europe, North America, South America, as well as other parts of the world.

The jurors' next step is to re-evaluate the "top ten" cars, in preparation for a final round of voting in February. They will specifically rate each vehicle in terms of overall merit, value, safety, environmental responsibility, emotional appeal, and significance.

"Being a finalist for the World Car of the Year confirms the momentum behind Cruze," says Jim Campbell, Chevrolet General Manager. "More than 125,000 customers in Asia and Europe have already chosen the all-new Cruze. That strong acceptance on the world stage makes us confident that Cruze will be successful here in the U.S. as well when it goes on sale in the third quarter of this year."

Cruze has already earned the top rating of five stars from the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP). According to EuroNCAP, Cruze is the first passenger car to receive maximum scores in both the frontal offset collision test and side impact crash test since EuroNCAP began providing crash test ratings in 1997. Cruze also received best-in-class, five-star crash safety ratings in the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) testing in Australia, and the Chinese New Car Assessment Program (C-NCAP) testing in China.

The Chevrolet Camaro is one of four finalists for the World Car Design of the Year, as selected by a jury of five design experts from around the world. The 59 World Car Awards jurors will now vote on the expert's design recommendations.

“It’s rather humbling to be nominated for the best new design in the world,” says Tom Peters, design director GM performance cars. “The nomination is a tribute to the passion of many individuals who worked so hard to make the vision of the new Camaro come to life.”

According to Yahoo!, Camaro was the most-searched vehicle in 2009. Camaro has also received the Popular MechanicsAutomotive Excellence Award, and was named an All-Star by Automobile Magazine. Since its introduction in 2009, Camaro has outsold Mustang for seven straight months.

CRUZE CUP TO BE LAUNCHED IN GERMANY NEXT WEEK-END AT OSCHERSLEBEN

Today, will see the official reveal of the Cruze Cup, the new racing series of the ADAC Weser-Ems, Germany’s largest motorist club and motorsports organization, at a special ceremony to take place in the Oschersleben Motorsport Arena.

The Cruze Cup will be launched in 2010 and will adopt a special race-spec version of the Chevrolet Cruze developed by Wiechers Sport on the basis of the Chevrolet Cruze WTCC.

After its successful introduction into global markets and in the World Touring Car Championship, the Chevrolet Cruze has now been chosen by the ADAC Weser-Ems to serve as the platform for its new in-house racing competition and will offer German racing enthusiasts the possibility to enjoy racing with an exciting race-spec car at a very affordable price.

One Podium Finish And 15 Points In Total For The Cruze In Porto

Image by Patrick Mayon via Flickr

podium finish and 15 points in total: the Chevrolet team can be satisfied with the overall result obtained by the Cruzes in the streets of Porto, in two races (the 99^th and 100^th of the WTCC) that were closely fought and packed with incidents. Rob Huff finished second in race 1 and sixth in race 2, while Nicola Larini finished fifth in race 1.

Nicola was caught in a race incident with Tarquini in the second race, while Alain Menu, at the wheel of the Cruze carrying the 2009 winning livery of the ‘Young? Creative? Chevrolet!” art competition, had a difficult day, as he was involved in incidents during both races. The team is now looking forward to the next event, which will take place near home, in Brands Hatch, a track that has traditionally been very friendly to the Chevrolets.

Michigan Plants Will Build GM's Future Small Car

General Motors selected its assembly plant in Orion Township, Mich. and stamping facility in Pontiac, Mich., to build its future small car, which will add to the automaker’s growing portfolio of U.S.-built, highly fuel-efficient cars, including the Chevrolet Cruze and Volt. Today’s announcement will restore approximately 1,400 jobs in total -- 1,200 at Orion Assembly and 200 at Pontiac Metal Center, Building # 14.

This decision is dependent on the successful outcome of ongoing economic incentive negotiations between GM and state and local government officials.

“Small cars represent one of the fastest-growing segments in both the U.S. and around the world,” said Troy Clarke, president of General Motors North America. “ GM will be the only automaker, foreign or domestic, to build small cars in the U.S . , and we believe Orion Assembly and Pontiac Stamping are well suited to deliver a high-quality, fuel-efficient car that competes with anything in the marketplace.”

A selection team comprised of leaders from several of GM’s functional areas, including manufacturing, labor relations and finance, made the final decision based on a specific set of criteria. Orion Assembly will be retooled and is anticipated to be a two-shift operation, building 160,000 cars annually - a combination of both small and compact vehicles.

“This is great news for our members at UAW Local 5960, Oakland County, and the State of Michigan, and shows the world the UAW can compete in the most competitive segment of the automotive industry,” said Cal Rapson, UAW Vice President and Director, UAW-GM Department. “My heart also goes out to our UAW members in Janesville, Wisc., and Spring Hill, Tenn. Our work will not be complete until all of our members displaced by the shrinking auto industry are returned to work. With today’s announcement, we can begin to restore hope that the worst of the times are behind us.”

Gary Cowger, Group Vice President of GM Global Manufacturing & Labor Relations added: “I would like to personally thank all of the key stakeholders involved in the review process, including state and local government officials. This vehicle segment is one of the toughest and most competitive in the world but with our recently modified agreement with the UAW and GM’s proven capability in efficient, flexible manufacturing, it is now possible for GM to produce these size vehicles in the U.S. in a cost-competitive and profitable way.”

As announced on June 1, Orion Assembly will be placed into standby capacity status in Sept. 2009. Pontiac Metal Center ’s Building #14 will be placed into standby capacity status in Dec. 2010. Pontiac Metal’s buildings #15 and #25 will close by Dec. 2010, or sooner depending on market demand. Timing for the retooling of the small car assembly and stamping plants is still under study, but we anticipate this prep work would begin in late 2010 in anticipation of the start of production in 2011.

Two other GM assembly plants in Spring Hill, Tenn. and Janesville, Wis. were also under consideration to build the future small car. Spring Hill will be placed in standby capacity status in Nov. 2009, as announced earlier this month. The plant could be brought online at some point in the future should GM require additional capacity due to increased market demand. Janesville was placed on standby capacity in May 2009 and will remain in that status.

GM already has a strong manufacturing presence in the United States. Currently, about 67 percent of GM cars and trucks sold in the United States are built there. With this announcement, GM anticipates that U.S. production levels will increase beyond 70 percent by 2013, augmenting its already industry-leading U.S. manufacturing footprint of by far more plants than any other OEM.

Chevrolet WTCC car to dress up for milestone race in Porto

Chevrolet driver Alain Menu's race car to sport 2009 "Young? Creative? Chevrolet!" 2009 winning design in World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) races in Porto, Portugal, on July 5

Special livery created by 22-year-old Belgian student

WTCC celebrates 100th race in Porto

Alain Menu's Chevrolet Cruze race car will clearly stand out from the crowd at the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) races in Porto, Portugal, this coming weekend, as it will sport a unique livery.

The new and original decoration is the 2009 winning design in the Visual Arts discipline of the pan-European "Young? Creative? Chevrolet!" competition conducted by Chevrolet in cooperation with
applied arts schools across Europe.

Launched in 2007, the "Young? Creative? Chevrolet!" art contest supports upcoming young talent, encouraging students to look at Chevrolet from their own creative perspective. In the competition's 2009 edition, some 530 projects were submitted by 120 schools in 19 European countries in the disciplines of Fashion, Photography, Visual Arts, Video, and Music.

The brief for the Visual Arts discipline was to design a unique livery for the Chevrolet Cruze WTCC car and on May 29, 2009, an international panel of judges selected the work of Britt Raes, a 22-year-old student of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent, Belgium, as the European winner in this discipline. "The graphic reflects the speed. It is an excellent combination of creativity and elegance and offers a very interesting design and interpretation of the logo," the jury said about the project.

In a addition to a monetary prize, Britt's reward for winning 1st place is an exclusive witness trip to the races in Porto, where she will be able to witness her design featured on Alain Menu's Chevrolet Cruze WTCC car in the races. Britt will also be taken on a tour of the race track in a Chevrolet Corvette by one of the three Chevrolet drivers on Saturday.

"Speed is the key element for racing and winning. With the logos virtually flying off the car, I wanted to express this speed visually in my design. The logo itself is, of course, an important element representing the brand. The work we do in school is usually just on paper and only rarely on a big scale. I am thus very proud and can't wait to see my graphic on the race car. Until now, I've only watched races on TV and I'm very excited to see one live. Having the opportunity to be on site and so close to the Chevrolet race team will be an awesome experience," says Britt Raes.

Chevrolet race driver Alain Menu says: "I am very proud to drive the car with the winning "Young? Creative? Chevrolet!" design again. I really like this creative project and I hope the special livery will bring me luck! Chevrolet's art contest is a great initiative to help generate interest in the WTCC from quarters not necessarily familiar with racing."

Race 2 on the Circuito da Boavista in Porto will mark an important milestone in the history of the world's main touring car championship, being the 100th WTCC race. This event will be duly celebrated by the WTCC community and, obviously, also by Chevrolet, who can pride itself of having been present in the championship from the very beginning with the same team and the same drivers! Chevrolet, who obtained its first triple victory in Porto in 2007, is determined to mark the occasion by further enriching the Cruze's excellent record on urban tracks.

CRUZE AIMS AT PROVING FURTHER PROGRESS IN BRNO

Image by Alan_D via Flickr

Next week-end will not only mark the end of spring and the beginning of summer, but also the end of the first half of the World Touring Car Championship season. The sixth event of the WTCC will take place in the Masaryk Automotodrom, the beautiful and very technical track in the hills around Brno, Czech Republic, which regularly attracts large crowds from the various Central European countries.

The Chevrolet team heads to Moravia seeking to score good points and with the objective to prove the progress made by the new Cruze on traditional circuits. Since the last race in Valencia, the team has been testing for three days, at two separate venues, to continue developing and fine-tuning the balance of the Cruze.

BRNO RACE SCHEDULE (CET)

Saturday, 20^th June 2009

08.30-09.00 Free Practice 1

11.00-11.30 Free Practice 2
15.00-15.35 Qualifying (Q1 20’ + Q2 10’)

Sunday, 21^st June 2009

08.30-08.45 Warm up

12.50-13.15 Race 1 (10 laps = 54.030 kms) (Rolling start)

15.05-15.30 Race 2 (10 laps = 54.030 kms) (Standing start)

GM Announces Plans to Build Small Car in U.S.

Image by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via Flickr

• GM to utilize and retool idled assembly and stamping facility for future production.
• Additional production will help the company deliver outstanding new vehicles to the compact and small car markets and meet future fuel efficiency regulations.

DETROIT, Mich. -- General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) announced today it plans to build a future small car in the United States utilizing an idled UAW-GM facility. This vehicle adds to GM's growing portfolio of U.S.-built, highly fuel efficient cars including the Chevrolet Cruze and Volt.

"Small cars represent one of the fastest growing segments in both the U.S. and around the world," said Fritz Henderson, General Motors President and CEO. "We believe this car will be a winner with our current and future customers in the U.S."

The re-tooled plant will be capable of building 160,000 cars annually, which can be a combination of both small and compact vehicles. Selection of the site will be determined in the future.

"I would like to personally thank the UAW for agreeing to work with us to ensure our overall manufacturing competitiveness in the United States," said Henderson. "This vehicle segment, while important today and expected to be more so in the future, is extremely challenging. It takes a special effort by everyone to bring a domestically produced small car to market in a cost-competitive and profitable way - but that is what we are going to do together."

GM already has a strong manufacturing presence in the United States. Currently, about 67 percent of GM cars and trucks sold in the U.S. are built in the U.S. With this announcement, GM anticipates that U.S. production levels will increase beyond 70 percent by 2013, augmenting its already automotive industry-leading U.S. manufacturing footprint.

The Three Cruzes In The Top Ten At The Challenging Valencia Track

For their first qualifying session at a European traditional circuit, the three Cruzes managed to secure a place for themselves in the top ten, a result that pleased the Chevrolet team, as the twisty and fast track of Valencia is not the best-suited to the characteristics of the Cruze.

The two free practice sessions allowed the Chevrolet drivers to work fruitfully on the balance of the car, while Q1 ended with Menu 5^th, Larini 7^th and Huff 10^th. In the ten-minute decisive Q2 session, things changed little, with Menu finishing 6^th in the day’s ranking, Huff 8^th and Larini 10th, in a sunny and warm afternoon. This puts the three Cruzes in an interesting position to score points tomorrow, especially in race 2.

· QUOTES

Alain Menu (6^th): “I am pretty happy with my result today, the car felt well and I had almost a completely clean lap in my fastest run, so I don’t think we could have done any better today. Tomorrow, I expect two tough races, as we have some very fast cars behind us”.

Rob Huff (8^th): «It is a good result for the team, and I am satisfied with my time. I made a little mistake on my fastest lap, but I don’t think I lost more than one tenth, so it is fair to say that things wouldn’t have been much different”.

Nicola Larini (10^th): “Based on what I could do in the previous sessions, I was aiming at 5^th or 6^th position, but unfortunately the set of new tyres I put on in Q2 did not perform as well, I don’t understand why”.

Mark Busfield: “We are pleased to see the three Cruzes in the top ten at this circuit, and we really took the best we could out of this qualifying session. Knowing that the characteristics of this track suit our competitors well, and that we have the heaviest cars here following our successes in Marrakech and Pau, we couldn’t possibly have done any better. Tomorrow, it will be closely-fought races, we will aim at staying in the points in race 1 and be in a good position for race 2”.

VALENCIA QUALIFYING RESULTS

1. G Tarquini SEAT León TDI 1m44s414

2. Y Muller SEAT León TDI + 0s232

3. J Gené SEAT León TDI + 0s414

4. T Monteiro SEAT León TDI + 0s482

5. A Farfus BMW 320si + 0s666

6. A Menu Chevrolet Cruze + 0s900

8. R Huff Chevrolet Cruze + 1s026

10. N Larini Chevrolet Cruze + &s288