Chevrolet will introduce the new Cruze wagon in Geneva next month.
For automotive journalists it can be frustrating when a news release comes across the digital transom revealing details of an intriguing new product entering some exotic foreign market and never destined for U.S. showrooms.
It’s all the more disappointing when that product shares a familiar nameplate – like the Chevrolet Cruze wagon, shown here, that shares its underpinnings with the Cruze sedan we see all over the country. For now, however, the Cruze wagon – which will make its debut, next month, at the Geneva Motor Show – won’t join the four-door in U.S. showrooms.
That’s a shame because, if images are to be believed, the new wagon is not just a pleasantly functional alternative to the current U.S. package but also a strikingly handsome one, with a look that appears notably more up-market.
The wagon measures a full seven inches longer than the other body style, the compact Cruze hatchback and, at 184 inches nose-to-tail, it’s three inches longer than the sedan. It also boasts significantly more cargo space: 17.2 cubic feet with the back seats up, 52 with everything folded down.
Chevy will offer it with a variety of powertrains, including an upgraded 2.0-liter diesel and all-new 1.4-liter gasoline and 1.7-liter diesel engines – those three packages coming with auto stop/start capability.
“The Cruze station wagon caters to an important market segment. It ticks all the boxes for European drivers in terms of distinctive design, dynamic driving, space and economy,” said Susan Docherty, Chevrolet Europe’s new President and Managing Director.
The wagon should be available in most markets Chevrolet competes in – with a Holden-badged version heading to Australia and a Vauxhall for the U.K. As for the U.S., well, Chevy isn’t ruling it out entirely, suggesting the topic will remain “under study.”
While hatchbacks are slowly regaining some traction in the U.S. market, it seems, wagons are still just not connecting with enough buyers to justify the added cost and complexity.