2014 Chevy Cruze Earns Diesel of the Year Honors

Despite the situation with the small-car lineup from the "old GM," the current iteration has seen some strong success in the marketplace, led by the 2014 Chevy Cruze—which just added to its trophy case by winning The Diesel Driver magazine 2014 Diesel Car of the Year Award. The honor was complemented by a win for the Chevrolet brand as the top manufacturer, with both recognitions selected by the publication's readers. As reported by The Diesel Driver's Paul Riegler, the 2014 Chevy Cruze earned 6,540 of the 11,030 votes (nearly 60 percent) cast during the magazine's annual awards-selection process.

Said Jonathan Spira, editorial director of The Diesel Driver: “The Chevrolet Cruze Diesel, with a market-leading 46 mpg highway (5.11 L/ 100 km) is clearly setting the pace for diesel-powered cars in the United States. The message from our readers is clear. Diesels are back and Chevrolet is in the forefront.”

Certainly, the 2014 Chevy Cruze is at the forefront of the EPA leaderboard for non-hybrid/non-electric fuel efficiency on the highway. Tightening the focus the five compacts that meet those criteria and get above 40 mpg highway, we end up with:

• 2014 Chevy Cruze Diesel (compact)—27 mpg city/46 mpg highway/33 mpg combined
• 2014 Toyota Corolla Eco—30/42/35
• 2014 VW Jetta TDI (compact)—30/42/34
• 2014 Mazda Mazda3 (compact)—30/41/34
• 2014 Honda Civic HF—31/35/41

The 2014 Chevy Cruze also continues to perform relatively well on the overall sales leaderboard for diesel-powered cars. It's been hovering just inside the top five the entire quarter, and last month owned a 25 percent volume advantage over its next-closest car rival. As tallied by the team behind the HybridCars.com Dashboard, eight light-duty diesels sold more than 500 units in March (note: also shown are month-over-month changes, since the 2014 Chevy Cruze Diesel wasn't on sale during March of 2013):

• 2014 VW Passat TDI—4,549 sales, up 168.2 percent
• 2014 VW Jetta TDI—4,052 sales, up 95.5 percent
• 2014 BMW 3-Series Diesel—777 sales, down 15.2 percent
• 2014 BMW X5 Diesel—735 sales, up 46.7 percent
• 2014 Chevy Cruze Diesel—644 sales, up 26.8 percent
• 2014 Porsche Cayenne Diesel—562 sales, up 60.6 percent
• 2014 Audi Q5 TDI—519 sales, up 23 percent
• 2014 VW Golf TDI—515 sales, up 40.7 percent

Said Cristi Landy, Chevrolet senior marketing manager: “The Cruze Diesel is really showing the world what diesel can do. It combines fuel efficiency and performance into a fun-to-drive vehicle that really offers compact car drivers an option that speaks to their lifestyle and personality.”