daewoo

The Chevy Cruze era has begun in South Korea, except the sedan will be badged as the Lacetti Premiere. General Motors partner Daewoo is producing the fuel efficient sedan for Korea, the first market to get one of GM's most important future vehicles. The Cruze is the first truly global vehicle that the General will produce, with a keen eye on fuel economy and scalability. The Lacetti Premiere will come equipped with the same 1.6L powerplant with 140 hp as the rest of the world, meaning fuel economy is reported to approach 40 mpg on the highway. Europe won't receive the Cruze until early 2009, with the U.S. getting the Bow Tie-branded sedan in 2010... at the earliest.

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We've got a bit of a wait ahead of us in the United States, but if this interior photo does indeed show the Chevy Cruze's passenger compartment, then maybe it'll be worth it. TheCaranatic.com doesn't tell the source of the image, the Daewoo logo on the wheel indicates that it was probably snapped in South Korea, where the car will be produced for the European and Asian markets. As for the interior itself? Well, based on the photo it looks top-notch, blending a lot of Opel Insignia with dashes of Chevy Malibu to create a very pleasant driver's environment. This is promising.

Brenda Priddy & Co have brought us the first glimpse of GM's upcoming 7-seat MPV. Based on the Delta global platform, it is said to be about the same size as the Mazda5. The person hauler is apparently the work of GM Daewoo (GMDAT), with R&D work carried out in Bupyeong, South Korea.

We saw the Chevy Beat concept unveiled a year ago, and now a camouflaged mule has been caught testing in China, fueling speculation that the Beat will succeed the Spark in that market. The Beat is certainly far less dowdy than the Spark, which is also sold, sometimes gratuitously, as the Matiz in other markets.