Published August 23, 2012
By Jeff Cobb
Rumors have circulated about changes to the Chevy Volt’s battery, range-extending generator and more in recent months, and now it appears by 2015 it will be riding on a new platform.
More than a blogger’s scuttlebutt, this word came first from Automotive News citing Reuters which reports today that several sources say the Cruze platform shared by the Volt will be changed to a global platform in 2014 for the 2015 model year.
Automotive News said GM would not confirm it, but Chevrolet has posted a press release confirming $220 million in retooling for its Lordstown, Ohio plant for the pending redesigned Cruze, while saying also “production timing of the next-generation Cruze will be announced later.”
According to the Reuter’s sources, that timing is as mentioned, the 2015 model year. The new platform is being called D2XX internally at GM, according to the sources.
The Volt is built at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant however, and no word has been given as of yet by GM confirming retooling there, so the absolute definitive word about the 2015 Volt has not therefore been given by its maker.
The D2XX global platform will reportedly combine two compact GM vehicle platforms now in use for sedans and crossovers, so they will share the same underpinnings. The current Volt/Cruze platform was launched in fall of 2010.
Besides the Volt and Cruze, vehicles expected to use the new global platform include the Chevrolet Equinox and Opel Astra. Naturally also, this will affect the diesel Cruze which Chevrolet will introduce from Europe in the second half of 2013.
Sources told Reuters that the pending global platform could eventually underpin nearly 2.5 million GM compact sedans and crossovers worldwide by 2018.
The Cruze is expected to continue being produced at Lordstown through 2019 or 2020 if not longer, a UAW source said.
GM has invested more than $7.3 billion in its U.S. facilities since 2009 and it provides in excess of 5,000 jobs, GM said. Globally, more than 1.6 million Cruzes have been built since 2009, and this is a very important and top-selling model for the automaker.
Automotive News
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