Can Detroit make money on compact cars? Since General Motors launched the Chevrolet Corvair in the Autumn of 1959, the answer has been a resounding "no." That may finally change, with GM, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler LLC facing stricter Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards beginning in 2011 (the same year GM expects last fall's United Auto Workers contract finally to start paying off) and $4-per-gallon gas forcing the issue this year, anyway.
The Detroit Three are ready to make more cars than trucks again -- the market has already dictated that -- and the C-segment (Civic, Corolla, Focus, Golf, etc.) is the next big thing, with more refined, better-equipped models on the way.
Leading off this movement is the 2011 Chevrolet compact. Combine the now-signature Chevrolet horizontally split grille with "fierce-eye" headlamps and a rakish, coupelike four-door roofline, and you've got the replacement for the Cobalt, coming in two years. At GM's annual meeting, Rick Wagoner dropped all kinds of hints about the car, including the likelihood it won't be called "Cobalt," making that car a one-generation model nameplate.
The new-for-2005 Chevy Cobalt was touted as a Honda Civic-killer, yet it barely matched the retrograde 2001-2005 Civic, and was on the trailer a year later when the class-leading 2006 Civic bowed. With the 2011 Chevy compact, GM may finally be learning you have to figure out where Honda will be with its next-generation Civic (also due for replacement in 2011).
The Chevy will have more equipment, benchmark safety, and quality, Wagoner promised and, most important, "nine miles per gallon more than Chevy's entry in this segment today." Add 9 mpg to the current 2.2-liter, five-speed-manual Cobalt, and you get 33-mpg city and/or 42-mpg highway. Who needs a Chevy Volt at twice the price?
If the Chevy manages those EPA estimates for the conventional compact, it comes to 36.5 mpg combined. Sell the Chevy compact in Civic-volume numbers and GM will nail the coming 35-mpg CAFE standard. The plug-in 2011 Chevy Volt, also coming by late 2010, and the post-Cobalt will ride on the new Global Delta platform, shared with the next Opel/Vauxhall/Saturn Astra and Opel/Vauxhall Zafira MPV.
[source:MotorTrend]
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