40 percent of buyers choosing the Ford Focus in the U.S. opt for the hatchback variant of the compact car from the blue oval, and analysts forecast a more than five-percent growth in the hatchback market by 2018.
General Motors will not be left out of the game and, during a presentation to investors at the Citi 2015 Industrials Conference in Boston, GM CFO, John Stapleton, confirmed a next-generation Chevrolet Cruze hatchback, based on the all-new 2016 Chevrolet Cruze, will grace the U.S. market, according to The Detroit News. The confirmation follows news of a new Cruze hatch showed to Chevrolet dealers months ago at a Las Vegas dealer meeting.
A Chevy Cruze hatch has been sold in global markets a couple of years since the introduction of the Cruze nameplate, helping it become a top-seller worldwide with 3.5 million units sold. Chevy rivals, such as Honda, plan to re-introduce a hatchback variant of popular top-sellers as well, with a new Civic hatch inbound; Toyota, meanwhile, recently introduced the Scion iM.
What really makes us ponder is if Chevy will provide a hot-hatch competitor in a new Cruze hatchback, as that segment heats up with the upcoming Civic Type-R, the Focus ST and Focus RS, as well as the segment stalwart that is the Volkswagen Golf GTI.
Comments
That’s nice. Now announce a Cruze SS with the LTG 2.0 Turbo.
They should have been selling hatch since day one of Cruze. Didn’t they claim US consumers have no interest in a hatch? Guess GM pulled their heads out of the sand.
Well lets not get ahead of ourselves here. The sales on this car will be modest at best but with the strong sales in Europe it will take the pressure off of this vehicle in volume.
The fact is the real trouble for this vehicle is the Trax and Nox as most people wanting a hatch in America are now turning to the CUV.
I would not expect a SS here.
Now with the Buick hatch we may get a OPC version as to do this car right it would not be cheap. I expect if they do a Turbo OPC version for here it will be at least $30K. The Cobalt SS years ago was $26K then and that was with a cheaper quality car and interior.
This is a move they should do but they will only account for about 1/4 of production.
Sales could be significantly higher than 1 in 4. The Focus hatch accounts for about 40 percent of its sales volume so with a competitive product there is no reason why the Cruze hatch can’t be closer to 1 in 3.
That would be nice but we will never know till they get the car out and give it a shot.
I still think the Trax will be more of an obstacle than anything.
Also Ford always had a hatch following more so than GM. Not sure why other than they often offered more over the years.