HMT-Roger

Mike Sussman is one of the buyers helping General Motors Co. come back in the small-car business. The 45-year-old systems analyst just traded in a Toyota Prius for a Chevrolet Cruze, seeking both high mileage and more pep.

"I was very, very leery about buying U.S., to be honest," said Sussman, who lives in Greensboro, N.C. "They got me with the mileage. It actually drives like a regular car. With a Prius, you always feel like you're driving a science experiment. It just doesn't have a lot of guts."

The Cruze was the best-selling U.S. compact in July at 24,648 cars, beating the Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra and Ford Focus, and it outsold cars of any size in June. GM has found the sweet spot in the market, pricing the Cruze at as little as $16,525, between the Corolla and the Prius, and delivering mileage of 30 mpg or more.

The Cruze helped make GM the world's top seller of vehicles in the first half, a ranking it lost on an annual basis in 2008, the year before the company's government-backed bailout. The company's rise in the small-car market, where GM has traditionally been a laggard, is emblematic of a turnaround for the automaker.

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...#ixzz1VO85TpAj


A true success story if I have ever read one! The article claims is ranked last in 2008, but thanks to the governement-bailout and a re-commitment to improve their product, Chevy has made Chevy Cruze a successful come back story!