Chevrolet Cruze SUV Cars

Chevrolet Cruze SUV Cars

Chevrolet Cruze Sedan

Chevrolet Cruze Coupe

GM Preparing Demo Fleet of 202HP Cruze EVs for South Korea

South Korea is really getting serious about electric vehicles. Following the news last week of a Kia CUV EV to join Hyundai's BlueOn i10, GM has announced it will build a demonstration fleet of battery-powered Chevrolet Cruze sedans from the end of October.

The cars will be deployed in Seoul, with GM planning on testing them in other, unspecified urban markets at a later date. The idea is to test the market needs and consumer acceptance of battery electric vehicles and to gather data on real-world driving patterns and charging behavior.

The demonstration vehicles will be badged both as Daewoos (as the Lacetti Premiere) and Chevrolets (as the Cruze), despite the fact the latter is not sold in South Korea.

The project is a joint venture between GM Daewoo, LG Chem (who make the batteries) and LG Electronics (who make the motor and invertors). GM and LG Chem have been working together since 2008 with this being their second project together after the Chevrolet Volt.

The Cruze EV features an underbody-mounted 31-kwh battery and an electric motor producing 150 kw (equal to 202-horsepower). Tthe demonstration vehicles can sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (62mph) in 8.2 seconds and reach a maximum speed of 165 km/h (102.5 mph). Tests by LG Chemical estimate that the driving range could be up to 160 km, with a recharge time of 8 to 10 hours on a standard 220 volt outlet.

GM has yet to reveal how many cars will be built or who exactly will be testing them, though these details will probably come with the launch October.

By Tristan Hankins

VIDEOS: 2011 Chevrolet Aveo, Captiva Facelift, Orlando MPV and Cruze Hatchback

As promised, here are the respective promotional videos of Chevrolet's Paris Motor Show-bound Aveo sub-compact, Captiva 7-seater SUV, Orlando 7-seater MPV and the Cruze five-door hatchback. From these four cars, only the Aveo has been confirmed for the U.S market with sales of both the five-door variant and the yet-to-be-revealed sedan model to start sometime in 2011.

Chevy Cruze Hatchback Interior Snapped before Paris Unveiling

While we're on the topic of bringing you pics of GM's debuts, here is the interior of the Paris Motor Show Cruze Hatchback. Much like the Orlando, the interior shouldn't come as a shock. After all, this is just a Chevy Cruze wearing a backpack.

The Cruze Hatchback, which was designed by Holden in Australia, will appear in Paris as a pre-production Chevy show car; however, as we recently showed you, it will also appear Down Under wearing a Holden nose and badges. As for North America, there's no telling as of right now (but keep your fingers crossed).

Under the hood we'll get the regular Cruze engine options, meaning your choice of a 113-horsepower 1.6-liter (gas), a 141-horsepower 1.8-liter (gas), or a 123-horsepower 2.0-liter turbodiesel. One wonders if the car may one day show up with the Orlando's high-output diesel engine.

Either way, the new Focus hatchback is going to have some stiff style competition when vying for consumer cash. Oh, and we need to get a high-output gasoline four-banger under the hood pronto to give the Focus ST something to worry about.

By Phil Alex

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