CRUZE AND SONIC....room for both?

[regfootball]

Does anyone think the Cruze and Sonic will COMPETE with each other or COMPLEMENT each other?

discuss.

I am thinking COMPLEMENT although I do think if the Sonic is good, it will cannibalize a few Cruze sales.

What my guess is, most Sonics will come with the 1.8 and fries, and the bulk of Cruze with the 1.4 turbo will be the sales there.

Maybe the proper question is, in retail sales, will Cobalt + Aveo be killed by Sonic + Cruze.

[daves87rs]

Depends on gas prices and the economy.

My current thought is that the Sonic will be too small for a family car (in my case).

The tough part is that their prices are pretty close together.....though the younger crowd may swing toward the sonic for the looks and better handling.

Since I think gas prices will get higher, (because the have to) they both should do well regardless.

[ocnblu]

Focus is selling around 20k per month, Fiesta around 5k. I think that will roughly translate over to Chevy's entries. I don't see Sonic booming, really. They've certainly aimed it at a different buyer, with the silly dashboard and the ad blitz featuring skater bois and emo chicks.

[hyperv6]

The Sonic will attract the younger buyer while the Cruze will have wider appeal. The Sonic is for the most the new Cobalt.

I expect they will low ball the prices on the Sonic like they did with the Cobalts to get the collage market and first time buyers. Or even target those who want a cheaper second car. I am sure it will take a few sales but they are two different cars. Sitting in a Sonic is not like sitting in a Cruze. The Dash and overall feel of the car is different not bad just different.

Edited September 11, 2011 by hyperv6

[riviera74]

The Sonic is the new Aveo. The Cruze replaced the Cobalt. In terms of pricing, the Sonic can be priced starting around $10k. The question has to be asked: why buy a Sonic when a Cruze is so much better?

[ocnblu]

Hyper: what is the "collage market", 3rd grade Art teachers?

[Daryl Z71]

Id like to have a new Sonic

[loki]

if i needed a new car and the sonic was really quite fun and practical. i could see that getting young and old (scion crowd) to seriously consider it.

[regfootball]

in any case, GM having the small car market covered with able entries is sort of rare. Add in Verano and....WOOT!

[ocnblu]

I see the new Motor Trend magazine compares GM's new assault on the compact car market to a similar effort in 1961... if only this new wave included some coupes and wagons...

[hyperv6]

The Sonic is the new Aveo. The Cruze replaced the Cobalt. In terms of pricing, the Sonic can be priced starting around $10k. The question has to be asked: why buy a Sonic when a Cruze is so much better?

The Sonic is aimed more at the people that used to buy Cobalts because they were cheap. The Aveos were for people who could not afford a good used cars. Chevy has moved the Cruze up and has aimed for a higher level of buyer. They want older people and families to look at the Cruze. Note many say the Cruze was the first compact car targeted at older adults. GM had moved the targets for these cars and aimed higher. The Aveo buyers are now going to be targeted by the Spark.

The Feel in a Sonic is better than a Aveo and it look better but it still feels like a low cost sub compact car. A higher quality sub compact but still a sub compact. The Cruze now feels more like a Malibu and a little more solid than any Cobalt ever did.

In either case these cars are not fully directed at all the same people of the cars they replaced. I also see a change coming with the New Malibu and New Impala as the market has been changing and for once GM looks to change with it and not play catch up.

[ocnblu]

How about a Sonic convertible like the spunky little Metro ragtop? Or a Sonic pickup? Low-roof, rakish hatchback coupe?

How about a Cruze coupe? A sporty 4 seater Cruze-based 2-door CUV? Or even a Cruze 5-door hatchback?

GM needs to leverage these platforms by proliferating bodystyles... it cannot be too expensive to engineer an array of different bodystyles when the platform itself costs billions to develop.

After all, their resources aren't stretched to include Oldsmobile, Saturn or my beloved Pontiac brand...

Edited September 12, 2011 by ocnblu

[Robert Hall]

Maybe they will do a Spark 2 seat hatchback coupe and roadster, like the new Mini coupe and roadster..

[ocnblu]

Spark? Ew, reminds me of another "s" word.

[Satty]

Yeah, it only costs $50,000 to re-engineer a car, so they might as well have 17 body styles for every car.

[ocnblu]

They'd better get crackin' then, eh?

[regfootball]

I had a chance to survey the inside of a new Sonic yesterday.

Be assured, there is no cross over between the Sonic and Cruze. The interior quality and environment in the Cruze is far better more spacious and very different.

The Sonic is interesting for what they had to work with. That said, it's cheap inside.....they have done very well making the cheap look acceptable and interesting.

The Sonic is tight inside still though. Spacewise and packaging is different.

About the only thing these cars will share is engines. There is no mistaking the difference and the presentation between the two.

They did a nice job making cheap seem alright in the Sonic. But it's definitely an entry level car. Chevy did a great job beancounting on the car and still getting it to seem interesting. Once you dig, you find all sorts of places on how they cheaped it out.

[Drew Dowdell]

They did a nice job making cheap seem alright in the Sonic. But it's definitely an entry level car. Chevy did a great job beancounting on the car and still getting it to seem interesting. Once you dig, you find all sorts of places on how they cheaped it out.

You just described every Hyundai ever... yes even the Equus.

[regfootball]

I was in the Veloster the other day too.

Hyundai and Kia have become the masters at putting just enough nice into the places you see or touch often but then their trunks and such are trimmed out dismally.

The Veloster has a fantastic design on the dash and door panels and seats etc. The quality of plastics and details and textures were alright and certainly ok for the price point. But if you touched them they feel a bit cheap (nicer than the Sonic for example).

But everything in back of the driver's head while not old GM bad was definitely sparse and bare necessity. the trunk in the veloster in particular is not trimmed out lavishly at all.

The design inside the Veloster is so fantastic for Hyundai and overall, it's really a let down that Hyundai at some point doesn't try to bring their interior quality up above good enough and into something that just wows you.

I'm ok with the Sonic taking some material quality hits because its the sacrificial cheap car for GM now. As long as we still have cars like the Cruze and Regal with their super nice interiors.

Money for money and i know its not all apples to apples surely, but i think for the same or similar money that veloster would be in my drive instead of the sonic (without driving them of course)

Sonic is way nicer than the super dull accent though.

Edited October 7, 2011 by regfootball

[regfootball]

They did a nice job making cheap seem alright in the Sonic. But it's definitely an entry level car. Chevy did a great job beancounting on the car and still getting it to seem interesting. Once you dig, you find all sorts of places on how they cheaped it out.

You just described every Hyundai ever... yes even the Equus.

Yeah but in pics the Genesis and Equus even look like they have cheap insides.

[riviera74]

They did a nice job making cheap seem alright in the Sonic. But it's definitely an entry level car. Chevy did a great job beancounting on the car and still getting it to seem interesting. Once you dig, you find all sorts of places on how they cheaped it out.

You just described every Hyundai ever... yes even the Equus.

Yeah but in pics the Genesis and Equus even look like they have cheap insides.

How so? I could see Hyundai cheapening the interiors of everything below the Genesis and Equus, but not those two sedans. Sounds to me like you are (indirectly) hinting that these two are little more than a Chrysler 300.

[Guest Sultan]

about the Sequoia and Tundra when compared to Ford and GM light duty pick-ups and 4WD veliches...If there was such similarity, it ends with them all being "big trucks". A Ford is not going to get mistaken for a Toyota. A Toyota might be mistaken for another Eastern transplant, though.Hmmm, same could be said of Sony and Toshiba for instance when you compare their early products to RCA, GE, and Zenith...Sony had at least some sense to stop.I'm guessing sethstorm you're using a computer that has many 'reverse engineered' circuits and chips made at some Pacific rim country...Threw those away, they're either broken or weren't up to the task. High loads usually make it obvious whether it's the original, a copy, or just simply a bad product. --Of course, it's only a problem if it's GM badge engineering. Never a problem if it's a company that couldn't design its own cars.