DETROIT — General Motors Corp.’s new global small car hits the U.S. market in mid-2010, and the company is expecting it to fetch a better price than Honda and Toyota get for their small cars, GM said Monday.
The Chevrolet Cruze, officially unveiled Monday in Detroit on the eve of GM’s 100th anniversary, is a big step up — inside, outside and in fuel economy — from its predecessor, the Chevrolet Cobalt. GM is banking on a big step up in price, too, as it tries to make up for revenue lost when the U.S. market shifted rapidly from more profitable trucks and sport utility vehicles to more efficient smaller models. GM wouldn’t reveal the pricing of the Cruze, to be built in Lordstown, Ohio, but Chevrolet general manager Ed Peper said GM needs to get more money per vehicle than its main Japanese competitors, Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. He predicted that car prices will rise in general because the vehicles have more features than in the past, including better fuel economy. The Associated Press
