Auto show features Chevrolet Cruze giveaway

Cruze at Cleveland Auto Show

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CLEVELAND

If you go to the Cleveland Auto Show, you will have a chance to win a brand-new Chevrolet Cruze Premier.

Union leaders from the General Motors Lordstown Assembly Complex were in Cleveland on Friday to tout the Cruze’s recognition as the annual show’s official giveaway car.

“It’s exciting being recognized at a high-level auto show,” said Robert Morales, president of United Auto Workers Local 1714, which represents the fabrication plant workers in Lordstown. “It speaks volumes for the product and for the workforce. We are excited about being honored.”

To win the Cruze, visitors have to register at the “Official Giveaway” booth during any day of the show. A finalist will be chosen for each day of the show, which started Friday and runs through March 5. The finalists will be invited back March 5 and given a key to try to start the Cruze.

Ken Ganley, auto show chairman who owns three Chevrolet dealerships in Northeast Ohio, picked the Cruze as the giveaway car because it is built locally.

“It was important to me,” Ganley said. “I thought it was the right choice. The Cruze is unbelievable. We are selling them like crazy. They’ve had a great lease program. We have been very, very busy with Cruze sales.”

Ganley pointed out the gas mileage the Cruze gets – 40 miles per gallon highway – and the technology that comes with it. Chevrolet promotes the Cruze’s connectivity with its Android Auto and Apple Car Play features and the 4G-LTE with Wi-Fi availability.

“The level of quality is absolutely dead on with all of the best cars in its class,” Ganley said. “When somebody shops and Cruze is on their list, it’s hard not to pick it. It has really been a great seller for us.”

In January, Cruze sales were up 38.9 percent year-over-year. The compact car had 19,949 sales in January 2017, which compares with 14,362 made in January 2016.

But last year, the Cruze’s sales took a hit. In fact, the entire compact-car segment was affected by a shift in the industry from small cars to compact utility vehicles, larger utility vehicles and trucks.

The impact led automakers that manufacture small cars to cut back production, including GM. In January, the Lordstown plant lost the third shift, costing more than 600 hourly jobs on the assembly side and about 235 on the fabrication side.

“I know the market has shifted away from small cars, but to have this as the car of the show, we couldn’t be prouder,” said Glenn Johnson, president of UAW Local 1112, which represents the assembly plant workers in Lordstown.

Outside of the Cruze sedan, Chevrolet has the Mexico-built Cruze Hatchback and the new 2018 Equinox on display at the auto show.

The automaker also has an attention-grabbing, life-size Lego Batmobile on display. The 17-foot-long Batmobile took 200,000 hours to design and 1,800 hours to build with 344,000 Lego pieces. The “Lego Batman Movie” opened nationwide Feb. 10.

“I think a lot of kids are going to get excited and maybe some adults, too,” Ganley said of the Batmobile.

The auto show is where all the new 2018 products will be available for visitors to see under one roof.

“We [the dealerships] will be so busy the moment the show ends, and that will carry through the month of March,” Ganley said.