Chevrolet Cruze Automatic launch after Auto Expo 2010?

This news, if it is true, is really exciting for Chevrolet Cruze fans in India. The car is going to be available soon with an automatic transmission, according to Indian automobile forums Team-Bhp and AutoCarIndia Forums.

An automatic was what was missing when the Chevrolet Cruze was launched to much fanfare recently. Not many cared that there was no petrol version, but an automatic – that was missed. A large percentage of cars priced above Rs 10 lakhs in India are sold in automatic versions, and among luxury cars, the ratio of automatic to manual is even higher. So, time to welcome the Chevy Cruze Automatic at the Auto Expo 2010?

Not so fast. According to the thread in AutoCarIndia Forums, the launch will happen only after the Auto Expo 2010 is over. That means the third week of January 2010. This apparently is because General Motors does not want the focus to move away from their star of the show, the upcoming Chevrolet Beat small car. Does the launch of an automatic priced above Rs 11 lakh take away much from the attention sure to come to a small car from GM? I don’t know. We are just reporting what we hear, remember. For all you know, if the news spreads, it is quite likely that GM would launch both the Chevy Cruze Automatic as well as the Beat the the Auto Expo together.

Anyway, as far as price of the automatic version of the Chevrolet Cruze goes, there is no official information but our guess is that it would be priced some Rs 1 lakh above the manual variant. That is pretty much par for the course as far as prices of automatic vs manual cars go. The manual versions of the Cruze are priced Rs 11 lac to 12.5 lakhs in India.

We at DWS Auto India are of the firm opinion that as far as driving in our crowded cities go, nothing beats an automatic. Even the macho SUV Scorpio has an automatic now, as do most high end SUVs and crossovers. Little cars like the i10 and i20 are also already available in automatic.

Don’t expect any changes lookswise – the Chevrolet Cruze is is quite a handsome car as it is, and there would be an AT moniker or something similar added to the name on the car.