Rumored: 2014 Chevy Cruze MCE

Personal File: Lot's of recent rumblings online of the 2014 Chevrolet Cruze getting a 'rush job' MCE to visually align it with the new Impala and upcoming SS sedan designs. GMInsideNews and a few other outlets have released renderings that tease of what that could look like in various forms.

I was surprised to see this as I had been dabbling with something like it just for fun myself back in June. Never having liked the Cruze visually, I was exploring what could be done to update it and 'bridge the visual gap' between the two very differently designed 2013 Malibu and the future 2014 Impala sedans. My rendering combined aspects of both vehicles into a clean and sharp MCE.

Coming back to this chop again after the rumors started surfacing, I wanted to put a little more polish on the rendering. Here is a list of what has been done to a 2012 RS Cruze:

• revised c-pillar
  
• new wheels from Malibu
  
• hood and headlights and grille from Impala heavily brushed
  
• lower fascia heavily modified from Malibu heavily brushed
  
• reworked tail light shape
  

What do you think? Will GM will do something like this or are all the rumors just that - bunk?

All source photos copyright original owners

Chevrolet Cruze Sports Tourer - where is my wagon?

Personal File: Now that the Paris Auto Show has completed, I wanted to take a stab at one of the most promising but underdelivered concepts of the show - the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback. As much as I wanted to like the hatch (it was better looking than the Cruze sedan), I just couldn't get over the decision to do a hatchback over a wagon.

So what is a guy like me to do? You guessed it - make one. Taking the same platform as the hatchback concept shown at Paris, I stretched the body slightly past the rear wheels and added a donor wagon top from the new 2011 Astra Sport Tourer. The pieces easily fit into the existing Cruze body lines, and in fact, seemed to improve the overal look of the car's profile. I also touched up the front end by making the grille more like the Equinox, raising the front hood crease, and squaring up the weird headlight assemblies. The result is a front end that is crisper and cleaner.

Now this is a Cruze that I would actually want to drive! What do you think?

All source photos copyright original owners