The introduction of the five-door Chevrolet Cruze Hatch for the 2017 model year was welcomed by many GM and Chevy enthusiasts, along with hatchback fans and owners. Since the model’s launch, (arguably) the biggest question among enthusiasts, industry observers and pundits has been how the Cruze Hatch actually sells. The topic has become quite intriguing since Chevy doesn’t break out sales figures by body style, and has recently stopped reporting sales on a monthly basis altogether. But thanks to a new statistic directly from the bow tie brand, we now have somewhat of an answer to the riddle.
According to a short excerpt buried deep inside Chevy’s press release announcing the refreshed 2019 Cruze, the Cruze Hatch accounted for 20 percent of total Cruze retail sales in the United States in 2017 – the five door model’s first full year of production.
Cumulative Cruze sales totaled 184,751 units (sedan and hatch combined) in the 2017 calendar year, and 20 percent of that is 36,950 units. That figure, however, represents cumulative Cruze sales, which includes both retail and fleet deliveries. Typically, fleet deliveries make up about 25 percent of total GM sales volume, so we could subtract about 9,000 units from the total, leaving us with an estimated 27,950 retail sales of the Cruze Hatchback.
Keep in mind that these are rough figures, and the actual number could differ. Nevertheless, it’s nice to be able to put an officia
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Comments
I like the Cruze hatch. I worked at a Chevrolet dealership when they first released and there seemed to be no interest in it. We had one come in in pepper dust metallic that just sat. It sold probably about 6 months after I left the dealership. I hope to start seeing more on the road. In my eyes the more “hatch” type vehicles we get (Cruze Hatch, Audi A4 Allroad, new Buick Regal wagon) the better.
I wonder if being built in Mexico contributed to this?
Nope
Hey Mark Reuss,
We’ll forgive you for crashing the ZR1 if you give us an entry level performance car, Cruze hot hatch.
Having the cheaper LS hatch for 2019 might help a little. Being able to get cruise control, remote start and alloy wheels on the LS is a plus too.
Is that a new change for 19? That makes sense, I can see how that might be angling to move the Cruze down to cover the Sonic-Cruze price range, drop the Sonic and maybe move the base Malibu down a notch in price to cover the upper end.
The number here is about what I expected. The real question is how many of the 20% were Cruze buyers anyways and how many are conquest?
This is not a great number and only because of global sales is it sustainable.
On the other hand GM took the Cobalt and skipped on making a wagon or hatch. They made the HHR and made it taller and truck like. This resulted in sales close to 200,000 per year for most of its run. Only till the end did they taper off and were about double the Hatch sales here.
Adding a performance model may add 5K-10K in sales but it may not make the investment back if they engineer it right.
Today it is not just about making money but maximizing the return on investment. If you can build a hatch for 36K units sold or a truck like car that could account for 180K units for the same amount of investment what would you choose to build if sales and profits with max return were the goal.
It all comes down to dollars and sense.
This is why Ford is moving the small cars to a Cross Track like model
I would love to see a GTI killer but when GM can not even move the normal model then the added 5K units mean little in the big picture. Then it is hard to see them invest in it unless they know they will make back the investment and a tidy profit.
Todays market is made up of this will sell vs what if’s. Companies can no longer spend billions and hope to make back enough money to make it worth while. It is killing the cool diverse cars but on the other hand non sales of these diverse cars are killing some companies too.
Ford is dumping cars as they can no longer afford to do them. The investment into them with little return is killing stocks and putting them at great risk.
Not too shabby actually.
I have a 2017 Cruze Hatch Premier. I love it (minus Auto Stop). To my eye, the Hatch is vastly more attractive, with better proportions than the frumpy sedan. I’m disappointed that the ’19 model has been so heavily decontented. I would have been happy to get another one when my lease is up in January, but now I highly doubt it.