2012 Chevrolet Cruze launched

When General Motors unveiled the all-new 2013 Chevrolet Cruze facelift at the 2012 Busan Motor Show in Korea last month, we were certain that the company would bring along the same model into the Indian market as well. But much to our disappointment, General Motors India decided against introducing the facelifted model and have instead launched the 2012 edition Cruze sedan with new engine upgrades and minor feature changes. 

The 2012 Chevrolet Cruze sedan will be available in three variants, the base LT manual variant is priced at Rs 13.85lakh, the LTZ manual variant is priced at Rs 14.77 lakh and the automatic LTZ variant would retail at Rs 15.67 lakh. (All prices are ex-showroom, New Delhi.)

Technical upgrades include a re-engineered 2.0-litre VCDi engine, which now delivers 166PS of max power that is 12PS over the current Cruze sedan. Torque output is 327Nm @2,600rpm. In absolute terms, this is about 11% improvement in power and 16% improvement in torque, but more significant fact is that the peak torque is delivered at much lower rpm of 2,000 compared to 2,600 which makes the car much easier to drive in slow traffic without much gearshifts and revving, this improves the drivability and fuel efficiency quite significantly.

The 2012 edition Cruze also gets a new six-speed manual gearbox in comparison to the five-speed unit that does duty in the old car. The sedan still carries the six-speed automatic transmission from the current model, but the gear ratios have been tweaked to suit the new engine's output levels.

In terms of features, changes are limited to only two things - First, the driver seat now can be electrically adjusted on the top-end variant and second, the rear seats have been modified to provide more head room. 

The exterior and dimensions of the 2012 Chevroelt Cruze remains unchanged.