The Chevrolet Cruze is a compact car produced by General Motors (GM) since 2008, replacing two unrelated cars—the Chevrolet Cobalt and Daewoo Lacetti. First introduced in 2008 for the South Korean market as the the Daewoo Lacetti Premiere, this replaced the car of the same name sold since 2003. The previous generation Lacetti was sold throughout Asia, Europe and Oceania as either a Buick, Chevrolet, Daewoo or Holden. GM will replace the previous Lacetti model with the new Cruze throughout 2009; using the same badge engineering strategy employed before. Australasian-market versions will be sold as the Holden Cruze from the second quarter of 2009, with a closely-related, and more upmarket locally-produced model to be sold alongside from 2010. Also in 2010, the North American Chevrolet Cobalt will be phased out and replaced by the Chevrolet Cruze.
The first renderings of the Cruze were revealed by GM at a press conference on July 15, 2008.[1] GM released the first official images of the Cruze on August 21 at GM Lordstown Assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio.[2]