Cruze terminal

Holden

has given up on the Cruze, with production to end late in 2016. News broke in February of the locally-made compact’s demise as part of the lead-up to the conclusion of Holden Commodore production at Elizabeth.

The move is no surprise and the slow-selling Cruze was always going to be binned ahead of the Commodore as part of the structured shutdown of the factory on the north-west outskirts of Adelaide.

The Cruze never stood a chance in Australia in a class which is dominated by the Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla which have been battling it out for overall market leadership for more than five years.

It was originally an underdone Korean project and even the injection of significant Australian engineering work – and sharper prices – could not save it.

The best sales year for the Cruze was back in 2011 when 33,784 cars were delivered, but that number crashed to just 15,222 sales in 2015 despite the overall boom in small-car deliveries.

The Holden factory at Elizabeth will continue to make Commodore sedans, wagons and utes until late 2017, as planned.

Cruze will be replaced by the Holden Astra, which will be imported from the UK.