From the beginning of this century, Chevrolet also focused on the European market and saw ten years ago that things had to be boosted. However, the end was already fairly close.
In 2005 Chevrolet decided to try it as a brand in Europe. Although General Motors had had a firm foothold for many years with Opel and Vauxhall, the Americans believed that there was also a market for GM products that were slightly lower in the market. The Chevrolet name also had to appeal to Europeans. The models, in the beginning mainly heated Daewoos, did that less. It was not bad, but it was not a bull’s eye either.
The Cruze, a C-segmenter developed on the basis of the Opel Astra, had to deliver large numbers. There was one problem, however; that car was initially only available as a sedan. Perfect for markets such as Central and South America, less so for Europe. We love hatchbacks. That is why the Cruze had to go to the drawing room to get the ‘butt’ off, for us Europeans, as we wrote today exactly ten years ago. Less than a year later, the Cruze hatchback came out. In 2011, the five-door Cruze entered showrooms alongside its sedan sibling, ready to take Chevrolet sales to the next level on our continent.
However, the possible problem was immediately visible. The Cruze hatchback had a rather unfortunate rear end. Especially and in profile it was good to see that the car was not originally intended as such. Although Chevrolet today stated exactly ten years ago that it wanted to tap into a total market of 4.8 million cars like the Cruze hatchback, the special ‘American’ could only take a small share in the years that followed. The peak of the Cruze (37,661) was that year. The arrival of the hatchback did not prevent sales from plunging drastically in the years that followed. In the year that Chevrolet went all out here, in 2015, 149 more Cruzes went over the counter in our continent.
In the Netherlands, the total position remained at 2,032 units, although the hatchback (and the SW added later) did cause a short revival in 2013. With 556 Cruzes sold, that was the most successful year here. Undoubtedly, the substantial discounts that Chevrolet gave on the car from 2012 also contributed to this. People had to be dragged to the showrooms and that realization eventually got through to the top of GM. Chevrolet called it quits after a decade.