Cruze Delayed, LA Dismayed, Cash Flambéed?

It's got all the potential of being a hit product for the ailing General, the only question is "When will the Chevrolet Cruze get here?" New reports this week say that the U.S. launch of the Cruze has been delayed at least six months. The most recent schedule had production of the Cruze beginning in the summer of 2010, but now it looks like 2011 for the Lordstown, Ohio assembled sedan. Delaying the sedan would save some cash in the short term at the expense of greater profits from the higher margin Cruze in the slightly longer term.

Word has also spread that GM will not debut either the CTS Coupe or Buick LaCrosse at the LA Auto Show. According to Business Week, GM has also instructed employees to turn down thermostats, turn off lights after work and has even pulled some refrigerators in an effort to conserve cash.

It has to be painful to delay products that bound to be both popular and more profitable. It's also a tough pill to swallow when you withdraw fresh products from an auto show in a market that you hope to increase your presence in. However, unprecedented times call for severe measures. At this point GM is rather like a lost hiker trying to stave off hypothermia by keeping its core warm and potentially using the body of Chrysler to provide some extra heat.

Will GM emerge from the mess of an economy that we currently find ourselves in? I'll tell you this, as I walked from the post office today there was a new CTS in the parking lot. That crystal red car was the best looking vehicle around: a dynamic design that really showed a lot of bold creativity and fresh thinking. I know that it hasn't fared as well in Consumer Reports reliability ratings as GM would have liked, but if you can get past a few quality quibbles it is a car well worth your time. For cars such as the CTS and future GM offerings that finally show a real sense of market awareness, I hope that the good General is able to weather this current storm. In life there are no guarantees and sometimes there isn't enough time to atone for sins of the past. In the next 12 months we'll probably have an answer to the question above. I hope the answer is one we can live with.