GM will roll out their next generation of compact cars this September. Really? They will take another stab at the industry segment they just can’t seem to figure out. However, this time, “General Motors thinks it can finally sell a good small car,” says Tom Krisher of the Associated Press.

We truly hope this is true. The compact car market has long been a bain in GM’s side. Think of the Corvair, or the Geo. Or even more currently the Cobalt. Ah, and even the old-school Vega. Just thinking of these buckets of junk make me sick

GM is hoping the Cruze line will be the answer they need. Only 105,000 Cobalts were sold last year. Compare that to the huge number of Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas. Trust me, GM knows this. They know they have something good when it comes to trucks, even SUVs, but they get their butts kicked in the highly competitive compact car market.

Is GM out of touch with today’s youth? I mean, really, their average buyer is 51 years old. This could be the reason the Cobalt was so dated and boring and fizzled in the game. Hopefully they took some notes from Mitsubishi and Scion, whose average buyers are around 40. Their snazy products keep winning with younger drivers for sure.

Enter the Cruze? Can it compete in this segment? Will it be able to withstand the tough competition? Can it bring the youth to the buyer’s table? We will see. Michael Robinet, an automotive analyst with CSM Worldwide in Michigan says, “They can’t afford to get it wrong.”

The Cruze was designed in Korea by Daewoo, a division of GM. It was engineered in Russelsheim, Germany and will be assembled in plants around the world. It is 180 inches long and powered by a new family of direct-injection, turbocharged four-cylinder engines that range from 1.4 liters to 2.0 liters. Recent test drives do show it to be quieter, nimbler, and more robust than anything GM has ever brought to this category.

It may be nicer looking, have a better interior, and pack a better punch that its predecesors, but is is quality? If GM expects younger buyers to look at the Cruze, it will have to compete with the Corolla and the Civic for quality. GM thinks they have this worked out. They plan to invest in quality, saying they have learned people will pay a bit more for superior dependability. They even held up production several months because managers were unhappy with performance.

GM plans to ask around $17,000 for a base model Cruze. Even though this is more than most of the competition, they claim it has a lot more standard features. There will also be a package with leather seats and other gadgets that starts around $22,700.

According to the article by Tom Krisher of the Associated Press, Tom Stephens, GM head of product development, says the company has tried to make sure the Cruze will be better than Corolla and Civic. We will see when it hits the showroom.

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