Chevrolet Cruze Touring Car

[Ferrer]

Chevrolet Cruze Touring Car #1

[Ferrer]

Chevrolet Cruze Touring Car #2

[Ferrer]

Chevrolet Cruze Touring Car #3

[digitalcraft]

But it's not a Nissan. D:

[Matra et Alpine]

^^ an intentional link ?

The Chevrolet's are designed, built and run by Ray Mallock .... who ..... did the same for Nissan in the 90s :)

[Maxx]

Chevrolet Cruze Toring Car #4

[Maxx]

Chevrolet Cruze Toring Car #5

[digitalcraft]

This is where I pretend I knew what I was talking about.

(not really, just a reference to the abundance of Nissan posts previously, which is not a complaint! They are interesting)

[Auxin]

Not too bad looking, stupid question.... but which events will it be competing in? BTCC im assuming, but anything else interesting?

[Ferrer]

Not too bad looking, stupid question.... but which events will it be competing in? BTCC im assuming, but anything else interesting?
WTCC mainly.

[max.devens]

OK but what is it really? It's no Chevy... its a Euro car Im guessing so better than anything here in the States. Or a re Euro Chevys Korean like the Lacetti on TG?

[netburner]

OK but what is it really? It's no Chevy... its a Euro car Im guessing so better than anything here in the States. Or a re Euro Chevys Korean like the Lacetti on TG?

Last thing. It is all-in-all still a Daewoo, but GM decide to bring it into the european market as a Chevrolet would sell more cars (which isn't the case, but that is another story).

[Matra et Alpine]

and it's coming your way max :) Chevrolet Cruze | The New Chevy Cruze Compact Car (http://www.chevrolet.com/2011cruze/)

[digitalcraft]

About time for Chevrolet to come out with a Focus.

[Ferrer]

About time for Chevrolet to come out with a Focus.
I think this is quite a lot bigger than a Focus.

[digitalcraft]

Is it? The focus is pretty large.

[Ferrer]

Is it? The focus is pretty large.
IIRC this is about 4600mm long, the Focus only about 4350mm (at least for the hatch).

[f6fhellcat13]

IIRC this is about 4600mm long, the Focus only about 4350mm (at least for the hatch).

Yes, but we have this strange lumpy thing.

http://www.cardata.com/images/2008_new_cars/Ford/2008_Ford_Focus_SES_4-door_sedan.jpg

175 in (4445 mm) long, btw.
4535 mm (178.5 in) for the Cruze.
Not a huge size disparity, but maybe noticeable.

[Ferrer]

Chevrolet and Vaillante to partner at Portimão

Alain Menu to play Michel Vaillant in the legendary comic hero’s WTCC debut

2012-05-25

ZÜRICH / WELLINGBOROUGH, 25 May 2012: After an eventful race day at the Salzburgring in Austria, the WTCC inaugurates the second half of the 2012 season with the last round on European soil at Portimão, Portugal.

With the three Cruze drivers topping the Drivers’ standings and Chevrolet firmly leading the Manufacturers’ standings, the main focus for the team will be to avoid the left front tire issues experienced in Austria. This will not be an easy task as the technical track is equally demanding on that particular tire.

Current World Champion Yvan Muller saw his advantage over his closest rival, teammate Rob Huff, reduced to just eight points. Alain Menu is still threatening in third place on 175 points – 31 behind Muller.

The Portuguese event will also see the WTCC debut of longtime motorsports comic hero Michel Vaillant and the Vaillante team in what is an unprecedented project that combines fiction and reality and gives the Portimão race its own special uniqueness.

Vaillant, the comic book character created in the 1950s by French artist Jean Graton, will be played by Alain Menu, whose Chevrolet Cruze will be livered in Vaillante colors.

“I’m happy and excited at the same time because Michel Vaillant was a great part of my youth. When I was a child and teenager, I used to read all his comic books, dreaming that one day I would become an F1 driver. To impersonate Michel Vaillant is something I never expected,” Menu said.

Part of the Chevrolet team will participate in making the comic scene real as Chevrolet Motorsport Manager Eric Nève – who will play the role of Jean-Pierre Vaillant, Michel’s elder brother and Vaillante’s Head of Motorsport – explained: “We have worked on a complete change; Alain/Michel’s overall, the team’s uniforms, the livery of the car, the truck and the garage.

“We will also visit the Club Michel Vaillant in Brussels. The main reason we are doing this is to promote the championship because we know that the Valliant comic books will stay on people’s shelves for the next generation.”

Jean Graton’s son Philippe, who heads the Studio Graton, will attend the WTCC event in Portugal to witness his own hero taking part in a real race for the first time ever.

“The most amazing thing about Michel Vaillant is that he exists somewhere between fiction and reality. His stories have always been so accurate and realistic that professional drivers said they wouldn't be surprised to see him appearing on a racetrack. Well, this is going to happen!

“Never has any other comic strip described a world with such realism, nor inspired so many drivers, journalists and designers. The influence of Michel Vaillant has on today's motorsport world is undisputed and this incredible event in Portugal has a very symbolic meaning,” Graton commented.

The whole idea focuses around the launch of a new series of Michel Vaillant’s adventures by Dupuis and Studio Graton. The series will kick off in November with a story set around the WTCC.

Graton said: “I wanted to give Michel Vaillant a new start. If he stays at the helm of Formula One, and Vaillante remains the most successful manufacturer, there is no adventure. There are times a hero needs to be challenged again, to be thrown back into the lions’ pit, to find himself alone and having to prove his value again.

“The WTCC is a perfect stage for this to happen as the drivers in this competition are among the best, but at the same time they are not victims of stardom. They are tough and the championship is about true racing, not celebrity or money. The WTCC cars don't look like spaceships; they are close to those you see on the road. This is the perfect place for Michel Vaillant to be tested again and discover whether his love for racing is still intact.”