Go button pushed on Cruze hatch

Holden has pushed the big green button marked 'Go' at Elizabeth. Though pre-production examples have been rolling down the line at the Lion's South Australia plant, today marks the start of official production of the Cruze hatch. Pictured hereabouts is the very first production Cruze hatch to go down the line.

Designed in Australia and with a fair swag of Holden's future riding on its success, the Cruze hatch will hit dealers next month. Its official launch to media is in the second week of November.

Holden boss, Mike Devereux, has previously praised the flexibility of his company's operation at Elizabeth. In a statement today he said the Cruze hatch took the total variants of GM's global small car and Commodore short and long wheel base architectures produced on the same line at the plant to 51.

“As global economic conditions changed we set ourselves a very clear goal to be profitable first and foremost on our domestic business. This means building in Australia the large and small cars that Australians really want to drive," Devereux said.

“This strategy is clearly paying off. Cruze has been a great success in the market and our locally made vehicles account for nearly 60 per cent of Holden’s new car sales this year,” he opined.

According to Holden, the Cruze hatch line-up and pricing will mirror that of the Cruze sedan. The turbocharged 1.4-litre petrol powerplant will be the glamour engine of the range but 1.8-litre petrol and a 2.0-litre turbodiesel will also be offered.

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