At the beginning of July GM announced the debut of the compact Cruze at the Paris Auto Show in October. The car will come to replace the current Cobalt and will be built at GM's Lordstown, Ohio, plant beginning in 2010. In Europe, the car will go on sale next spring.

The Cruze will be based on GM's Delta compact-car architecture and will be powered by a new 1.4-liter global engine that delivers between 120 to 140 hp. Sources say mileage could exceed 40 mpg.

Similar in size with Cobalt, the Cruze's main competitors as the Honda Civic, Volkswagen Jetta, Mazda3 and Ford Focus.

Pictured here is the Cobalt SS.

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