Updated 10.30am:

Although the US is one of the last places in the GM world to receive the mid-size Cruze, it has just been unveiled to the North American market – complete with 1.4-litre turbocharged Ecotec four-cylinder engine – ahead of this week’s Los Angeles Auto Show.

The new Chevrolet Cruze will be offered with a choice of 1.4-litre turbo (103kW/200Nm) and 1.8-litre naturally aspirated (101kW/167Nm) petrol engines both of which are available with the choice of six-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmissions. The new smaller capacity engine is also capable of delivering fuel consumption figures as low as 5.8L/100km on the combined cycle.

To be offered in three trim levels, one more than here in Australia, the Chevrolet Cruze also features a high level of standard safety equipment with ten airbags as standard. ESC and ABS are also standard across the range though strangely, rear disc brakes remain an option.

From the outside Cruze takes styling cues from GM sibling Malibu, a move Chief Designer Taewan Kim says is meant to be “bold, not evolutionary. We wanted to take a big step forward, making a strong design statement for Chevrolet products around the world.”

The Chevrolet Cruze will be manufactured at GM’s Lordstown Plant in Ohio, where the Cobalt is currently made, from June next year. It is widely speculated that the Cruze will replace the Cobalt at some point in the near future.

CarAdvice has this morning spoken with Holden’s Media Relations Manager, Mr Scott Whiffin, who said:

“We’ve often talked about the flexibility of the Delta platform that underpins Cruze – and Volt too for that matter – but we haven’t confirmed the specs and features for the small car we’ll be building in Adelaide. That’s something we’ll only do closer to the launch date.”