A recently-spotted prototype of the Kia Forte was recently spotted undergoing testing out in the desert, with the spy shots revealing a more aggressive front- and rear-fascia, along with a meatier wheel-and-tire combination, more aggressive side sills, and a dual-exhaust set-up. All signs point to the imminent introduction of a high-performance variant of the Kia Forte, while the Chevy Cruze continues to sit like a lame duck with no performance variant in sight, despite GM and Chevy having all the necessary parts to make one.
Facelifted 2019 Cruze Sedan and Hatch
Kia Forte GT Info
According to a leaked Kia maintenance manual, the Forte GT (or K3 GT as it’s called in Korea) will be launched with a turbocharged 1.6-liter GDI engine, which is also offered on the 2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo and Elantra GT Sport. Power figures for the Kia haven’t been published yet, but the output is expected to be the same as what’s offered in the Hyundai counterparts – 201 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque.
There will also be two transmission options: a six-speed manual and a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission.
Facelifted 2019 Cruze Sedan
Sports Compact Segment Overview
With its Stinger-inspired styling and aggressive design upgrades, one could say that the Forte GT will make for a worthy alternative to sport compacts like the Honda Civic Si, Ford Focus ST (which will soon to be discontinued in America), Volkswagen Golf GTI, and Subaru Impreza WRX.
The aforementioned Veloster N makes the most horsepower in the segment with 275 horsepower, followed closely by the Impreza WRX with 268, the Focus ST with 252, the GTI at 220, the Civic Si at 205, and finally the aforementioned Veloster Turbo and Elantra GT Sport, which both produce 201 horsepower. We did not include the the Subaru WRX STi or Ford Focus RS, as those models (along with their abilities and prices) are in a segment above the one in question.
| Model Year | Make | Model | Engine | Horsepower (hp) | Torque (lb-ft) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Hyundai | Veloster N | 2.0L Turbo I4 | 275 | 260 |
| 2018 | Subaru | Impreza WRX | 2.0L Turbo I4 | 268 | 258 |
| 2018 | Ford | Focus ST | 2.0L Turbo I4 | 252 | 270 |
| 2018 | Volkswagen | Golf GTI | 2.0L Turbo I4 | 220 | 258 |
| 2018 | Honda | Civic Si | 1.5L Turbo I4 | 205 | 192 |
| 2018 | Hyundai | Veloster Turbo | 1.6L Turbo I4 | 201 | 195 |
| 2018 | Hyundai | Elantra GT Sport | 1.6L Turbo I4 | 201 | 195 |
| 2018 | Chevrolet | Cruze | None | None | none |
Facelifted 2019 Cruze RS Hatch
Rather Than Watching From The Sidelines
As most of its competitors offer sporty variants of its compact models while attracting new customers, GM and Chevrolet continue to not partake in the sport compact space, despite having all of the features and equipment necessary to compete.
The automaker could rather easily tuck the 2.0L Turbo LTG under the hood of a hypothetical Cruze SS, upgrade the suspension some, give it 18-inch wheels wrapped in sporty rubber, slap on the RS appearance package, and instantly have one of the best offerings in this segment. Heck, the Cruze chassis and design are so good, that it’s almost begging for these parts.
The LTG could make 259 horsepower in such an application, since that’s what the boosted four makes in other front-drive models such as the Malibu, though it can be more powerful still. Power would be driven to the front wheels via the new GM nine-speed automatic transmission, while a six-speed stick could be made available.
GM 2.0L Turbo I-4 LTG engine
The GM Authority Take
Sure, Chevy offered the hot-looking Cruze Redline Edition and it currently offers the RS Package. Bot add an improved Z-link rear compound crank suspension for enhanced rear stability and some hotted-up looks, but no performance benefits. Adding insult to injury, Chevy is getting rid of the Redline Edition for the 2019 Cruze. And so we have the Cruze making a meager 153 horsepower with its 1.4L LE2 I-4 engine, which is great for a mainstream commuter appliance, but not nearly enough for something much more interesting.
But no. All we keep hearing is that it’s not that as easy as using existing GM parts to shoehorn some excitement into the Cruze name. Another good one is that cars, and everyone is buying crossovers. Ironically, Kia and Hyundai aren’t phased by the circumstance, with both (sibling) Korean automakers pumping out performance variants of their car models left and right. They probably know something GM doesn’t.
In all, it’s truly a sad day when (nearly) everyone else on the market has a more attractive compact car lineup than GM and Chevy.
And So We Ask…
Should GM step back into the sports-compact segment with a performance variant of the Chevy Cruze? Give us your thoughts on the matter in the comment section.
Comments
One day I’m sure, but if they are going to do it. I would think they should do it with an EV for development purposes.
I’m sure they’re already working on something for the “Zora” by now. So why not use the tech developed on several platforms. The Corvette has always been GM’s development platform anyway.
I have a 2016 Gen 2. RS LT
It does get some great gas mileage but as far as go power (wait for it an then we can go) …..but my 2004 Grand Am had way lot more zip… As far as going to the GM Parts Bin for an engine, look back in ’84 they built a running car from the parts bin.. Remember the Fiero… engine, transmission, Front / Rear Suspension… Took them 4 years to do an improvement then it was to late… So, dropping a engine in the Cruze it could be done…But the just don’t want to do it.. I guess is should think about a change of my allegence to the other car line from OHIO. They have the looks an they know how to put some zip in your driveway…..An guess what they are not blaming the SUV’s for poor sales….. In closing GM might be loosing another Pontiac man. Running 91/93 octane so, if my pistons, go so goes the GM logo.
GM has basically turned into a Truck company again. Besides the Camaro and obviously the Vette, is there any performance cars? I mean even Cadillac which is a Luxury Maker ONLY had two performance vehicles. Two, just two. All other Luxury makers cannot make performance cars fast enough. Subaru used the WTX/STi to become extrely relevant in the US market. VW has the Gold GTI/R
Honda has SI/Type R
Hyundai now has the N division.
Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler has SRT Division
What does Chevrolet have? They won’t even go after the Ford Raptor
Pathetic GM as usual business model. Screw the enthusiast and loyal to brand consumer, we’ll just focus on numb/ignorant individuals for our profit margin as THAT, is all that REALLY counts along with Barra’s pay raise. Ford and FCA have GM’s number and will continue their market share dominance. GM won’t get smart until they need another bailout and dump their ignorance/greed…..
If you don’t want or can’t afford a Corvette or Camaro you can forget abou performance in a Chevy. For a company that likes to brag about being on the leading edge they are so far behind in so many things.
But..But people will go ga-ga for the extra-expensive, mid-engine Douchette!!!
I tune my own Cruze. Trifecta tune, coilovers. Fun enough
GM needs to spend their time and money making the normal Cruze relevent than worrying about sellin 8,000 SS models.
Making a performance version would be fun but fix nothing.
Might note all. The small performance cars are sold globally in smaller numbers in each market to total up to a decent number. This is one major problem for the Cruze as the do not hold the advantage of many markets especially the Europe market.
The second problem is many of these cars are not cheap anymore. The basic GTI is just FWD and not the most powerful. The Ford RS has al, the goods with power and AWD but $40k and it has only sold in very small numbers in the states.
In this day and age 250 hp in a FWD is just a family sedan.
I get it as I owned a HHR SS and had 300 hp. It was fun but FWD sucks with that power so AWD is needed but then more money, my SS stickers at $28k in 08 so how much today?
I would rather the performance investment to to the Blazer in AWD and more power.
That may be true but I still think 153 HP is kinda weak even for a every day driver. Not looking for an SS just something to get out of its own way.
Well I had a ton of people say oh just add a hatch and sales will improve. Now add more HP. While I always approve of more HP it is not going to fix what is wrong.
You can put a new roof on the house but if the foundation is a problem you just wasted the money on the roof.
Fix the foundation here first and then address the roof.
90% of the people buying this car see it as an appliance and they are only worried about payments, MPG and reliability. Many have it with their present cars so moving them is not easy and even more power will have limited sales increases.
Styling and better prices will help and they need to find a way to do it.
This is not just a GM issue but a industry issue with the big three. Ford has dumped all cars accept the Mustang. Chrysler only has a couple cars left and most sold are performance based the rest have been gone for a while.
The others are low balling prices on global models that are generally neither interesting or fun but people buy them because they are cheap and most are reliable. They have to sell them global
So what you’re saying is that GM needs to find a way to offer better products for a better price. With better products, I mean across the board. Better styling, better performance, ( a little more power : ) ), better handling and ride, better gas mileage and ect.
Mostly price for this segment. Price wins. Hyundai and Kia has challenged Toyota Honda and gained a foot hold with cheaper prices.
As for styling the Cruze no longer stands out. That is what needs fixed.
As for performance MPG is key to this segment and 0-60 times are secondary. People generally buy cars like this because they can’t afford much. They can not afford bigger vehicles that are more expensive. They Can not afford $75 on every fill up. They can not afford high repair bills.
Hyundai has two out of three here as they have a cheap price and good mpg. Many find that the car needs expensive work like timing belts about the time the lease is up.
Handling is fine. 0-60 is at a norm for the segment. Reliability can it ever be good enough?
Toyota build the largest automaker in the world not on sports cars but on cheap, boring and reliable high MPG cars.
You build a good foundation of a great car and make money then you can explore other areas with performance to add on profits.
The Cobalt SS was a fun car for sure but it did not add to the non SS Cobalt image. it did not make it more reliable and it for sure did not make it cheaper. It did not add much in profits due to low volumes.
The VW Golf is a great car and the image is good even with some issues on reliability. The GTI enhances the already great car. The base Golf is a good foundation the GTI was built on.
You have to put the cart behind the horse not the other way around or you will get no long term lasting effects.
The biggest issue is the lack of global market that holds back volume that effects the investment into development. This is the price being paid for the failure in Europe and some other markets for added needed volume.
I guess my thinking that the money spent creating added brands such as Saturn and Hummer could have been better spent making their existing brands the best on the market. Can’t cry over spilled milk but I think Making their existing brand the best in the market and selling them at a competitive price as compared to the competition is still a good idea.
The bottom line here is that a compact sporty offering in sedan or hatch body styles (or both) desperately needs to be part of the Chevrolet product lineup.
No, I’m not referring to 300 horsepower monsters like the HHR SS that couldn’t put power down to the ground all that well, or even bigger monsters like the Impreza WRX STI or Focus RS. Instead, I’m talking about something along the lines of the Golf GTI or even the Hyundai Turbo and upcoming N offerings, which are pure sweethearts to look at and to drive.
GM screwed itself on two fronts:
1. Switching to a lame duck design with the second-gen Cruze. The base models are completely uninspired and irrelevant to the masses who are buying Civics left and right. The RS models look much better, but are few and far between from a sales standpont.
Something must be done about this, and the 2019 facelift ain’t it… otherwise the Cruze will continue becoming irrelevant to the majority of the masses who are buying vehicles in these segments. Clearly, the thinking has changed to buyers wanting something more than plebeian appliances… sure, they want all the items scott outlined (fuel economy, cheap price, reliability, inexpensive repair bills), but they now also want some design flair to go along with it… plus gobs of in-vehicle technology.
2. Pulling out of nearly 40% of the world’s automotive markets (Europe, Russia/CIS, Africa, ASEAN) – which limits scale and how many units the development of the aforementioned high-performance model can be spread out across. Something must be done here as well to ensure that GM and Chevrolet remain relevant in the world, and not just in a single market. Is it not a bit scary that nearly every other major automaker (Toyota, Honda, VW, Hyundai, Kia, partially Nissan/with Renault) can find ways to be profitable in these markets, but GM can not?
Its been proven the 2.0T LTG and 9-speed auto fit in the Cruze hatch using all OEM mounting hardware. Just a shame you have to DIY to get there.
I would buy one right now if it had the 2.0 LTG.
I’ve been waiting…. when GM!
So easy to do, but the aftermarket gets the winners here. Why not take all those parts and put them in a performance version?
I have been wanting a performance Cruze for a long time now. I have a 2013 Cruze LT and its a fantastic car, I love it, but the Cruze has so much potential to be the regular everybody version I have as well as a sporty fast version. I still think the 1st gen cruze would have looked bad ass as a cruze ss or something similar. you know I’ve always been a gm person but its getting harder and harder to stay loyal. one thing that really made me mad is them forcing the auto start/stop down our throats with no way to turn it off. i know the 2019 cruze you can turn it off now, i’m guessing cause so many people complained. i read an article on this site not too long ago about them de-contenting the cruze quite a bit for 2019. so not only are they not giving us a cruze ss (or something similar) they are now taking things away from it. I love GM/Chevy but for my next car purchase I will be checking out Chevy as well as Hyundai, Kia, Toyota. I am a GM loyalist but i’m tired of gm not offering a sporty cruze especially. I remember before the bankruptcy they had a cobalt ss, hhr ss, malibu ss, impala ss. Not to mention the gxp pontiacs, GS buicks, etc. GM used to not hesitate to make a sporty version of almost all their sedans. Now it seems like they left their balls behind when they went bankrupt. All they care about is fuel economy now, which is fine! but give us folks who still like performance something to play with. Something to want from your company rather than a camaro and corvette. Ive always liked sporty sedans with some power. My 2004 Grand Prix GTP is a good example. Pontiac was all about affordable performance. Or was supposed to be until GM lost their way with the brand. I used to be a BIG Pontiac guy and like a lot of people moved to Chevy after Pontiac went away. Chevy hasn’t totally fulfilled what we lost. where are the affordable 4 door performance chevys? The SS didn’t count, it was 45 grand! Not all of the old GM was bad. bring back the part where you used to give every day joes affordable performance on their every day cars, like the cruze.
This inaction by Chevrolet to develop a Cruze SS should suggest it might be time to Mary Barra the door because General Motors needs someone that is more aggressive unless she has plans to introduce a Cruze EV.
This Pontiac guy no longer has a GM product in the garage. WE have 2 Sport Hatchbacks, and as I said they are not GM. This next year both leases are up and it looks like GM looses out again!
Honestly I think that even if they were to make a sporty version of the Cruze, it wouldn’t sell. Everyone will still go and run and go buy from foreign competitors. Th ectuze as is is considered boring by and milk toast while the corolla still is the most boring car without a sporting variant yet it is at the top of the sales charts. I would hands down pick a Cruze over that. But looking at all the what if’s and the could be’s I believe none of that would help them. They are even still marketing this car with specials and still no dice. So as much as it would be nice to have a sportier variant, they are doing good by not wasting their time and money on it knowing the sales will be in the pits. They could go back to the drawing board and make a stand out Cruze for 2021 for gen 3 and it will still not make the strides. I think the perception of “foreign brands are better” is the cemented reason why domestic anything loses out.
Long before my 2013 Buick Regal and now 2017 Malibu, I owned and drove LeCars, Sciroccos, Golfs, and a Saab convertible.
My bias is the VW GTI segment, with sport, convenience, size, comfort, and functionality essentially in one. I enjoy a stick shift, but I’d preferr an automatic if the sporty, good-sized hatch were my only car — like a 4-door automatic GTI.
We all got opinions. My view is that a front-wheel drive, good-sized four door with automatic & a hatch need not be an SUV or even a crossover. Don’t need a rear spoiler either to block my rear-view vision. Get a classy 4-door hatch with a 220+ horse engine (YES, GM’S current 2.0 liter turbo); 3,000 lb curbweight; heated seats and dual automatic seats; and Presto — it’s an adult car with teenager performance. Sweet.
Man there is nothing like GM performance. So why the hell don’t we have a faster RS and SS model? We need one in the Malibu, Cruze, Impala… EVERYTHING CAR IN CHEVY’S LINE UP! Man people aren’t buying sedans because there is no need for them. ITS BECAUSE THEIR BORING! Ford, GM, literally every automaker just don’t know how to sell a car like they used to.
They need a hopped up sporty version. Deny that all they want but it would be worth it. Building one that way might also fix some of it’s existing problems too.
GM and Toyota are the only manufacturers who do not offer a sporty small car.
Been waiting for a Cruze SS ever since the Cobalt SS Turbo last left the segment for GM. The Cobalt SS put up some great numbers for during that generation of other Turbo compacts. GM has the ability to make a great little performance car, they just need to work on marketing it better to build a more a bigger customer base.