Auto Trader NZ
Published 3 September 2020
The vehicle, a ‘Red Hot’ SRi Z-Series hatch, is destined for a Holden dealership in Canberra.
Holden executive director of manufacturing, Richard Phillips, said building the 100,000th Cruze was a great milestone for Holden and the Elizabeth plant.
“The Cruze competes in the most hotly-contested segment of the most competitive car market in the world, but it’s the only small car made by Holden in Australia. That’s something we’re very proud of,” Mr Phillips said.
“Small car buyers get incredible value with a Cruze, as well as outstanding quality, we put a huge emphasis on build quality for our customers and our internal measures show we are currently building the best-quality cars to ever roll out of this factory.”
A global model produced and sold by GM throughout the world, Cruze celebrated its three millionth global sale in August this year, highlighting the huge appeal of this small car.
Cruze was first produced in sedan form by Holden at Elizabeth in March 2011, joining the Commodore range on the production line.
However, Cruze’s Australian ties run deeper than manufacturing. Cruze hatch, introduced into the Elizabeth plant alongside the sedan later in 2011, was designed by Holden in its Port Melbourne Design Centre.
Holden’s talented designers led the hatch-specific exterior and interior styling for this global model that is now sold in 118 countries around the world.
Holden’s engineers also played a key role in ensuring Cruze speaks with a distinctly Holden accent and is perfectly suited to New Zealand and Australian roads and conditions while maintaining global appeal. The Holden team generated more than 20 engineering modifications which have been adopted globally.
These changes include suspension modifications to improve steering, handling, ride comfort and refinement and recalibrated automatic transmission tunes to deliver better drivability across the Cruze range.
Holden also developed rear NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) improvements which were adopted globally by General Motors.
With over 140,000 kilometres of Holden road testing and evaluation completed, this rigorous regime has resulted in a sporty Cruze hatch that is eminently suited to our conditions and driver preferences, while adding further refinements to the Holden Cruze sedan.
Most recently, Holden launched the updated MY14 Cruze range which saw a range of updates and developments.
The Holden team undertook engineering development work on Cruze to localise the introduction of the new 132kW, 1.6-litre turbo petrol engine and second-generation six-speed automatic transmission to the Cruze range.
Work on the powertrain was complemented by a raft of revisions which have been made to the Cruze’s dynamic package including developing a new wheel and tyre package that is a unique sports suspension for the SRi and SRi-V sports models.
Holden also led the development and implementation of Bluetooth, voice recognition, audio tune (sound quality), navigation for New Zealand and ensuring personal device compatibility.
Cruze SRi Z-Series comes packed with high-end features including Holden’s award-winning MyLink infotainment system, seven-inch colour touchscreen, voice recognition with Siri, leather-appointed seats, push buttons start and reverse camera and parking sensors.
Browse Autotrader’s range of Holden Cruze cars for sale.
