2009 Holden Cruze scores ANCAP five-star
May 12, 2009 by David Twomey
GM Holden’s all-new, Korean import, small sedan the Cruze has scored a five-star safety rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), joining the Commodore and Sportwagon in receiving the maximum safety rating.
Holden will begin selling the new Cruze, based on the same Delta platform that will underpin its own small car planned for release in late 2010, in Australia from early June with both petrol and diesel engines.
The Cruze will compete with rival Ford’s imported Focus small car, which also has a five-star safety rating from EuroNCAP.
Independent crash testing by the ANCAP laboratory in Sydney showed that the Cruze scored 35.04 points out of a maximum of 37.
Holden says that a combination of high-strength structure and a host of active and passive safety systems make Cruze one of the safest cars in its class.
Cruze has been designed to provide maximum protection including front and rear crush zones engineered to collapse in a controlled manner to absorb crash energy.
A collapsible pedal assembly helps to reduce the chance of lower extremity injuries to the driver in a frontal collision.
Holden says that in addition to its extremely strong passenger compartment, Cruze includes a full range of active and passive safety systems as standard across the range including; electronic stability control, traction control, ABS, brake assist, electronic brakeforce distribution, six airbags, seatbelt reminders and pretensioners with load limiters.
GM Holden Chairman and Managing Director, Mark Reuss, said safety was at the core of the vehicles global development program.
“We know that today’s motorists want many things from a small car and that includes no compromise on safety,” Mr Reuss said.
“Incredibly high benchmarks were set as the Cruze was being developed and the results show.
“This is a world class car with a safety rating to match,” he added.
Mr Reuss said GM Holden welcomed ANCAP’s response to the strong safety features of the Cruze.
Holden says that Cruze is the first vehicle in General Motors’ new portfolio of global products and enters the Australian market with bold looks, a high level of standard features and advanced interior styling and comfort.
Cruze will go on sale in early June powered by a 1.8-litre, four-cylinder, Ecotec petrol engine on CD and CDX models or a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged, common-rail, diesel engine in the CD model.
CarAdvice will be attending the media launch of the new Cruze next week and look for our First Steer of the entire range next Wednesday.
Print it: 
Thanks Andronicus, I will.
The Ford fanzies who love to associate Holden’s small cars as crap because they come from Korea, should look in their own backyard, the Focus is made in a run down factory in South Africa and the Feista will be made in Thailand, all very third world cheap and nasty !
Remember Ford fanzies, every dog has it’s day !
What goes around, comes around !
Luckily Holden still has Australia’s No. 1 car, and the Statesman and Caprice luxury cars. Ford gave up on both of these years ago….hahahahahahahaha LMAO
Amazingly caustic comments from the usaul inept crowd.
By all account what I have read on tests for it in Europe (Called Chevrolet Cruze) it is supposed to be pretty darn good, not the quality item of say Golf, Focus, or Astra but remember its cheap. Its just what Holden need to get back on track a cheap reasonble quality car. It will sell but Holden like ALL other GM subsiadries will need to pull their finger out with customer care and reliabilty issues.
Let’s hope it work.
Korean car workers have a greater pride in their product than the average European guest worker!
I have had a 2006 Kia Magentis demo for 18 months and have not had a single fault. I did Sydney-Melbourne and back and stepped out of the car without any stiffness. The car was a pleasure to drive and very economical for a V6.
I had a VW Passat from new and had to replace the windscreen wiper motor twice and the driver’s window power mechanism. The last service was $1000 (in 2003) so I’m happy with my $250 Kia services with 2 years factory warranty still to go!
Ford fans – remember the first Fiesta was a re-badged Kia!
From the fanatical attacks on Daewoo, Kia, etc. it seems that someone is worried that the Koreans are coming!
So that’s it then Darcy. You’re long and exhaustive test data has single handedly debunked all other cases of quality issues with Korean built cars. Well done.
quote “From the fanatical attacks on Daewoo, Kia, etc. it seems that someone is worried that the Koreans are coming!”
Yep Darcy,seems some are ! Some seem to live in the past when it comes to quality issues and are blind to their accomplishments in recent years ;)
Toyota have more quality issues these days than the Koreans.
Koren? Koria? I think I’ve read enough of people trying to put their points across here. Kath and Kim have the following advice for bogans: “Hullo peoples….5 Star Safety Rating….GET OVAH IT!”
Golfschwein, look at moi, look at moi,……. now I’ve just got one thing to say to ya,….. Korea is the new Japan
HAHAHA Fatboy ,thats what Golfy was saying……its niiice its unuuual,it different than the Jap stuff………
Caramel Bavaraian, Toyota may well have more problems than the Koreans these days but both the Koreans and the Jap’s smash your brand for product quality issues
VW Freak Says:
May 12th, 2009 at 8:36 am
“A 5 star DogPoo? Just how much did Holden bribe ANCAP I wonder???”
VW Freak don’t be a d@ck! Seriously………….now I like Volkwagen’s, there awesome, I’ve got a ‘79 Kombi in the Garage, but admit it Daewoo made a great car for once! And there’s no bribing involved by Holden! Your just being ignorrant.
Well done Daewoo and Holden! Superb job.
i think the reason people are attacking the koreans( Hyundai, Kia, Daewoo.) is because they are scared of how well the koreans are doing. ie the Genesis, cerato, Cruze, i 30 and even to some extent the Grandeur
nothing wrong with holden rebadged daewoos.daewoo built better quality than that crap commodore.so…just live with it.
Interesting read guys and girls. I too was a little hesitant to add the Korean built Cruze to our latest shopping list, so I read all the reviews I could find and then took a couple of models for a drive to see for myself.
First impressions were of a neat package for the money with heaps of safety features as standard. The seats are among the most supprtive and sportiest I’ve sat in for a while.
We first drove the auto petrol CD version and I must say it was about as bad as I expected it to be. Slow off the mark, no real torque to speak of and a pretty thrashy engine that builds revs then speed.
All the reviews said to forget the petrol and go for the diesel so we did. We took a manual diesel for a run because they didn’t have any autos as yet.
Wow what a contrast, this thing is a relative rocket, totally opposite to the petrol. My only criticism is the lack of availabilty in the CDX version. I will certainly be adding it to our shopping list as it represents good value for the asking price.