Keep steering the Cruze on path to lasting success

These are the best of times and worst of times for the Mahoning Valley’s indisputable industrial powerhouse, the General Motors Lordstown Complex. Even as the sprawling facility continues to weather some bumpy and distressing downturns, optimistic news has been buzzing around the pride of the plant – its Chevrolet Cruze – at a dizzying pace over the past week. Consider:

The Cruze has become the darling of the Cleveland Auto Show, which runs through Sunday at the I-X Center. Of the hundreds of vehicles on display there, the Cruze has been singled out for honors as the giveaway Car of the Show.

The Cruze earlier this week made history by making it onto Consumer Reports’ coveted listing of its Top Picks for 2017. The compact car thus becomes the first American-build small vehicle to earn the prestigious designation in decades, tossing aside perennial champions in the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla.

The Cruze then savored the news Wednesday that it had recorded an 18 percent sales surge last month over February 2016 and a 29 percent gain over the first two months of this year.

Clearly, smiles and back pats are in strong supply in and around the Lordstown GM assembly and fabrication plants this week. Yet despite the glowing headlines, the workers, management and community must not let these success stories blindside them to the hard realities that the future viability of the car, the plant and its employees still face daunting challenges.

It is our hope that the 3,000-strong population of the plant can harness some of the new achievements to energize ongoing efforts to increase sales consistently, beat stiff legacy competition and attract new plant investments.

Lest one forgets in the euphoria of recent days, an entire shift of workers was laid off in January as a result of overall sales declines in the small-car market, fueled by consumer desires for larger modes of transportation.

To be sure, the Cruze’s central focus at one of the nation’s largest auto shows puts it in great stead to turn heads, create buzz and impact sales.

‘Impressive’

More importantly, the honor bestowed upon the automobile by the respected magazine is nothing to shrug off. In announcing the Cruze as its Top Pick this week, Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports’ director of automotive testing, did not mince words: “The Cruze is impressive. With such a smooth ride and quiet interior, it feels like a much larger car, and reliability has been solid right out of the gate.”

It also should be noted that the Cruze’s entry onto the list is unusual. Of the 10 top picks by market segment, the Cruze and the Impala, also a Chevrolet product, stand out as the only Detroit 3 companies to make a showing. The independence of the testing and of the publication make the list one in which many of the 7 million subscribers to Consumer Reports take seriously. Savvy marketers at GM would be wise to promote the Cruze’s new golden status in upcoming advertising and promotional campaigns.

News of the Cruze’s improvements in market share also bodes well for its immediate future. After a roughly even split in sales with its primary domestic competitor, the Ford Focus, the Cruze is rapidly surging ahead. Both Cruze and Focus sales were down 16.6 percent in 2016, but so far this year, Cruze sales are running more than 30 percent higher than those of the Ford compact.

But the greatest challenges in the Cruze’s market-segment recovery remain the stalwarts of small-car tastes in this country – the Civic and Corolla.

In sheer volume, each of those models enjoyed sales volumes in February nearly twice as high as the Cruze’s. Coupled with the larger consumer shift to larger vehicles, clearly the local GM workforce is not out of the woods quite yet.

That’s why the local GM community must continue to work aggressively to turn a sharper corner toward lasting dominance. That includes continuing a primary focus on quality, working with corporate leaders for a share of new investments and partnering with state, local and federal leaders – up to and including the Donald Trump administration – to ensure the great news of the past week puts the Cruze on a roll toward solid dominance in its market and sustained full employment at its plant.