Rumored: 2014 Malibu MCE

Personal File: There has been a lot of talk about the sudden about-face - literally - on Chevrolet brand vehicles. With the new Impala and updated Traverse, Chevrolet has set about to remake their now established split face grille.

Not surprisingly, the 2013 Malibu was unveiled and later released without the new corporate face established with the vehicles above. Development had long since been done. Rumors flew and were confirmed by January of this year that an unplanned 18-month MCE would be done to "adjust" the look as well as address rear seating concerns and other issues.

Wondering how the new "beak" would look I decided to try a rendering similar to the Cruze I did last year. I've seen online where many artists have simply copied the entire Impala over the front of the car but I doubt it will be a literal Xerox copy. My theory is GM will spend as little money as possible on hard points and focus instead on the hood, front fascia, grilles, and lighting assemblies.

Using my newly integrated Before-and-After plugin, here is my take on what the MCE might look like. What do you think? Click around the image or move the slider to view different areas of the chop. Or click the before and the after buttons below the rendering. Comments on the rendering or the new plugin are appreciated!

I just read on Jalopnik the new face might be making a special appearance at New York NAIAS - that would be a great way to end a great showing for Chevrolet! It has been a great show for GM.

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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?

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U.S. Getting Updated Chevrolet Spark

From GMInside News: Way back in January 2009 General Motors confirmed that the Chevrolet Spark mini-car would ultimately be sold in North America. After an extended period of time outside of the media’s limelight, recent spy shots have confirmed that the Spark will receive a mild update prior to arriving on North American shores.

Earlier this year GMI confirmed that the Spark, despite its absence from corporate communications at GM, was still slated to arrive in 2012 as a 2013 model. According to the newest information from GMI’s product development sources, that timing is still accurate.

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What if GMC received a Canyon based on the new global mid-size truck platform?

Personal File: I really like the new Chevrolet Colorado Concept revealed this year at the Bangkok International Auto Show. I don't yet know if it will make its way to North America, but I have been wondering what if they created a GMC counterpart. I would assume the Canyon brand name would be kept and the vehicle would integrate design cues found on GMC XD, Granite and All Terrain concepts shown over the past few years.

I've been contemplating doing a chop of this for a while and my brother finally convinced me to put my thoughts down "on paper". Using the GMC Granite as the main donor base, I combined its GMC cues onto the Chevrolet Colorado concept. The results of which I think look outstanding! What do you think? Should GM build a new Canyon on the global mid-size truck platform?

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Two-Door GM Compact Coming, But It’s Not A Cruze

From GMInside News: Late last week rumors surfaced (for the second time in a year) that Chevrolet is prepping a coupe variant of the new Cruze compact sedan. While we hate to be the bearers of bad news, we can confidently say that there is no Cruze Coupe in the product plans. There is, however, a two-door (err...three?) GM compact car in the plans for North America.

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