SPY PICS: Chevy Cruze hatchback spotted

Will Australia's next Cruze include both hatchback and sedan variants?

According to respected industry journal Automotive News, GM has confirmed the Cruze will sell as a Chev-badged hatchback in the USA alongside the sedan that has been revealed already.

If it's good enough for American brand Chevrolet to sell a hatch, in a country where sedans are far more popular, it leaves the way open for Holden to do likewise. But the word is that Holden's small hatch after the closure of the Elizabeth plant in 2017 will be the Opel Astra wearing Holden badges. Selling the Cruze hatch in the same showrooms wouldn't make sense, unless the Cruze is a more affordable alternative to the Astra.

Both Astra and Cruze are built on the same D2XX small-car platform. To date speculation within the industry favoured either the Astra as Holden's sole small car or complemented by a Cruze sedan. But with Holden confirming recently that it would sell both Cruze and Astra together, and the Cruze in numbers that would exceed the current sales figures for the locally-built model – there's a chance we'll see the Cruze here in the alternative body style too.