Car News

Demand for the Chevrolet Cruze sedan has prompted executives to look at returning a third shift to its Lordstown Ohio production facility. The Chevrolet Cruze sedan, which will be launched in Australia as the Holden Astra sedan this year to replace the Australian-built Holden Cruze, is currently built in the USA with plans to move production to Mexico quashed recently.

Holden has today announced that its Cruze sedan replacement will be called the Holden Astra sedan when it arrives locally in May this year. Built off the same D2 architecture as the Astra hatch, the Astra sedan will be built with a comfort ride in mind, sitting beneath the Astra hatch in terms of pricing and sportiness. The D2 architecture is described as German-engineered, Korean-built and Australian-tuned.

The Chevrolet Bolt, despite being newly crowned North American car of the year, still won't be produced in right-hand drive, according to Alan Batey, executive vice president and president of General Motors.

Holden has today announced that it will cut between $250 and $1700 from the price of the Holden Astra, only a month after the brand launched the new model in Australia. Speaking with media at the Detroit motor show, Holden chairman and managing director, Mark Bernhard, said that the decision was driven by customers. "The feedback we've had from dealers and customer enquiries, we're taking the opportunity to realign where the pricing is," Bernhard said.

The mighty Ford F-150 has scored a series of updates three years into its life cycle, headlined by the addition of a new 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 engine. The 2018 model-year version of America's top-selling vehicle for 35 years running also gets revised front and rear styling, trims, more active safety features (such as pre-collision braking, adaptive cruise control and pedestrian detection), and revised V6 and V8 petrol powertrains.