Saturday, November 28, 2009
REGION
Chevrolet Cruze gets high marks for safety
LORDSTOWN — The Chevrolet Cruze has received a maximum Five-Star Safety Rating in Europe.
Production of the Cruze for North American markets is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2010 at the General Motors Lordstown Complex. GM officials said the Cruze global compact sedan, already on sale in Europe, Asia and other markets, earned the top rating from the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP), which released its latest safety ratings this week.
According to EuroNCAP, the Cruze scored 79 points out of 100, including a maximum 16 points in the frontal offset collision test and a maximum 8 points in the side impact crash test against a moving barrier, making it one of the safest models in the passenger car class.
The independent European testing organization also awarded the compact sedan a high score of 7.3 out of 8 points in the more severe side pole test, and the compact sedan was also given high marks for child and pedestrian protection during testing.
NATION
Opel to be unveiled in Dec.
FRANKFURT (AP) — General Motors’s top European official said Friday that a plan for Opel to be unveiled next month will include a schedule to launch new models and a financial break-even target.
Nick Reilly’s comments in an official GM blog came as the U.S. automaker finalizes its restructuring plan for Opel and British sister brand Vauxhall, a program it has said will result in about 9,000 job cuts across the continent.
“We have developed a sustainable plan for the future that will involve structural costs reductions, new product commitments, continued investment in research and development and an aggressive schedule for new model launches,” said Reilly, who gave no details of those plans.
Reilly said this week that the up to 60 percent of the job cuts could come from Germany, and that the future of an Opel plant in Antwerp, Belgium is “uncertain.”
Opel and Vauxhall employ some 48,000 people in Europe, more than 24,000 of them in Germany. GM has said it needs euro3.3 billion ($4.9 billion) to restructure its European operations.
Vindicator staff and wire reports