The recently-appointed vice president of GM’s performance vehicles and motorsports ,Jim Campbell, has stated that the company is now giving consideration to expanding its performance car line up to include smaller models within the company.
“Small cars and compact cars are going to be more and more important going forward, and we’re looking at efficient performance,” said Campbell, who has experience working with GM’s NASCAR, American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am Road Racing teams. “We will work with those teams to provide performance variants.”
According to Campbell, the performance division will cross all brands at within the company but the primary emphasis will be on models Chevrolet and Cadillac stables – this means that models such as the aggressively-styled new Spark (dubbed the Aveo Stateside) and the Cruze could well benefit from some go-faster modifications.
In the case of the Spark/Aveo, such a treatment could well take the shape of something similar to the Aveo RS concept. This one-off sports showcase featured a four-cylinder 1,4-litre engine developing a healthy 103 kW but a blown 1,6-litre unit is also an option. The Cruze could also receive a considerable shot in the arm by possibly fitting the 194 kW/353 N.m turbocharged 2,0-litre LNFI4 engine that currently does service in the company’s Colbalt SS model and the now-defunct Pontiac Solstice GPX. Even if the engine was mildly detuned, it would still offer an appreciable amount of clout compared to the 104 kW 1,8-litre unit that currently heads up the Cruze range whilst providing a suitable excuse to grace the car’s already stylish lines with a performance-flavoured body kit and SS decals – a sort of little brother to the sledgehammer that is the Lumina SS.
After the company’s bankruptcy woes last year, all performance-related projects were put on hold while the company restructured and regrouped. Now, with the blessing of GM North America’s boss Mark Reuss, the move to explore smaller performance models has been revived in a bid to improve the image of each brand and offer younger buyers looking for a sporty car but unable to stretch their budgets to such premium performance models as the Cadillac CTS-V.
The Cruze has enjoyed an appreciable degree of success in the South African market as a stylish alternative to such family car staples as the Toyota Corolla and the ageing VW Jetta. Given the number of remarks aimed at our 1,8 LT automatic long-termer by admirers who think the car’s appearance would suite a more powerful engine, it seems that GM may just be onto something if the project gets the go-ahead.
