Chevrolet Cruze for this year. Is it time for Seeker or Trax?

It’s been a few years since Car Guide reported that the Chevrolet Cruze’s days were numbered. After all, GM ended the production of sedan and hatch models in all factories in the world, except Argentina. But this month the Argentinian newspaper Ámbito reported that the Cruze will not be launched this year.

This paves the way for the production of the Seeker/Trax SUV, which Saic-GM produces in China and GM manufactures in Korea under the Chevrolet brand, right? Not exactly. But first, let’s analyze the situation of the Chevrolet Cruze, which had only 461 sales this year, from January to April, with 335 for the Cruze Sedan and 126 for the Cruze Hatch. It is very little, since the Argentine market does not stand to sustain the production.

“The dollar is overheated, it seems that all the news from the automotive sector goes through the exchange market,” wrote journalist Horacio Alonso, from Maximum. “What is new is the Chevrolet Cruze, which is produced in the Alvear factory. The four- and five-door model, which was the leader of General Motors, is reaching the end of its useful life.

Ámbito said further: “The expected date is November, according to the plans for the supply of parts that the suppliers manage. Of course, the actual time can be changed, forward or backward, according to operational issues. For example, the issue of reserve plans. What is certain is that it does not reach the end of the year”.

Tracker, Finder or Trax?

Without the Cruze, GM will start producing more Chevrolet Tracker units in Argentina, that’s for sure. However, this will not change the issue of costs, which are high in neighboring countries. This is where the Chevrolet Seeker comes in, a modern and stylish Chinese SUV that can stand in for the Jeep Compass.

Not only. Despite the car’s appeal, the American press has already published that Saic-GM has given up on spreading the production of the Chevrolet Seeker worldwide, although it has been tested in the United States (where it is sold as the Chevrolet Trax from. US$ 20,400, about BRL 100,000). Its international reach is limited to Korea, where it is also produced and exported to the USA.

If it were brought to Brazil, the tendency would be to use the name Trax because it is similar to the United States. However, the pronunciation of the Trax is very close to that of the Tracker. GM South America’s marketing department will have to decide whether it would be better to have the Tracker and Trax or the Tracker and Seeker duo in the Chevrolet lineup.

For now, GM would have a hard time getting the Finder or Trax to compete with production in Argentina, as the problems would be similar to the Cruze. Worse, because the Chevrolet Cruze competes with the Toyota Corolla. And the Chevrolet Trax or the Finder will have to fight the Jeep Compass, which has tax advantages because it is manufactured in Pernambuco. This makes it almost a failure in its category.