Chevy Cruze Claims Two Racing Championships In South America
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General Motors not only continues to manufacture and market the second-generation Chevy Cruze in South America – the only region in the world where the vehicle has not yet been discontinued, but it successfully competes with the model in major automotive tournaments in the region. In fact, the Cruze has just simultaneously won the most important racing championships in Brazil and Argentina.
Chevy Cruze Stock Car
The automaker announced that the Chevy Cruze claimed both the 2021 Stock Car Championship in Brazil and the 2021 Super TC200 in Argentina, the two leading South American motorsport championships. Notably, this is the first time that Chevrolet‘s compact vehicle has been victorious in both race tournaments in the same season, demonstrating the high level of competitiveness achieved by the brand.
Chevy Cruze TC2000
“This is the first time that the Cruze takes the title in the Stock Car and the Super TC2000 simultaneously. Winning in the two main categories of Brazilian and Argentine motorsport in the same season is an unprecedented and very gratifying achievement for Chevrolet,” said Marketing Experience Manager at GM South America, Jorge Maiquez, in a statement. “Our brand brings together extremely talented drivers, very professional teams and extremely competitive cars. A formula that has been evolving to offer more and more emotion to the public,” he added.
Pilot Gabriel Casagrande – Champion of the 2021 Stock Car of Brazil
In Brazil, driver Gabriel Casagrande was the champion of the 2021 season by obtaining 378 points with the Chevy Cruze Stock Car, specifically designed for this competition equipped with a 550-horsepower V8 engine. The win, which comes exactly one year after the Chevrolet team won the 2020 season, marks the Cruze’s fifth straight title and the brand’s 36th in the competition.
Pilot Agustín Canapino – Champion of the 2021 Super TC2000 of Argentina
Meanwhile, driver Agustín Canapino was established as the 2021 Super TC2000 champion of Argentina with a total of 221 points aboard the Chevy Cruze TC2000 of the Chevrolet YPF team, which includes the car’s original body with specific equipment to exceed 300 km/h on the slopes. This is the second time the Cruze has won the Super TC2000 championship, following Canapino’s own victory in the 2016 season.
Both racing championships have a long history in South American motorsports, led by the Brazilian Stock Car that was born in 1979 with Chevrolet as the founding brand. The Chevy Cruze competition models for the Stock Car and the Super TC2000 have mechanical and structural differences adapted to the regulations of each category, but are based on the model manufactured at the GM Rosario plant and were released at the end of 2016 with the current-generation Cruze.
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Meanwhile in Canada where the Cruse was dropped while still a best seller, GM is giving the market away to Kia, Hyundai, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan and others.
Those buyers are probably lost forever. Genius move.
Not here…while Civics, Elantras, Mazda3s, and Corollas now own the market. GM surrendered an entire market and will pay the price. This is how you get future brand loyal customers. The product planning of GM remains the worst in the industry. This company won’t survive this many bad products and bad decisions.
Actually it was a great decision, Cruze is selling like a compact should in LatAm along with the other compacts, GM makes billions in US because of trucks.
Lordstown Strong!!!
I was curious how many ponies that body could take!
Maybe build a TC2000 clone when I retire!
Guestt, that may look like a great decision but for the short term.
While others do not have trucks (or only one or two) in their business plan and make an awful lot more money than GM (specific: VW group and Toyota) and keep making sedans and sportbacks and EVs (already) and Hydrogen (already), GM believes that working on trucks only for the US only (mainly) will fund enough to make global progress. Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, VW, Porsche, Audi, MB, BMW, Mini, Renault, and several others are truly global; GM is not.
Time will tell….
For many, a very bad decision.
Another thing, per this article, google the specs of this super TC 2000 Cruze: 2.7L Radical Performance Engine with 430 HP at 10,500 RPM with a Top Speed of 194 MPH. The body is original construction. Weight is 2,240 pounds. The category includes a variety of marques (global compact ones) that are more affordable than the DTM / WEC / IMSA type of thing, for a lot more amateur teams and drivers, and the Chevy Cruze came atop for the past 5 years.
Time will tell…