GM Says a Diesel-Powered Chevy Cruze RS is Slotted for the U.S.

While it’d be silly to believe everything that comes out of the mouth of an automotive company executive, it’s hard not to get pumped up for the feisty little monster pictured above. The 2018 Chevy Cruze RS.

According to Motor Authority, the General Motors chief for North America mentioned at a company event earlier this week that a diesel-variant for the popular Chevy Cruze is slotted for the Americas in 2018. While it had already been confirmed that the sedan version of the great-selling Cruze would be sold with a diesel engine, a big question mark remained over the hatchback rs model.

“We designed these to be sporty, as you can see,” said Alan Batey, President for GM in North America. “It’s fun to drive. You take this look, and you take those performance parts, and you marry it with a diesel. This will be fun to drive.”

I’m not sure I’ll believe the “fun to drive” part until I actually confirm it, but needless to say; if the diesel Cruze RS drives as good as it looks in feisty red, then it’ll be a heck of a hatchback. Hell, it might even compete with the legendary VW GTI.

According to other GM executives, the engine in the diesel-driven sedan and rs hatchback will be a turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-4 motor, capable of producing 136 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque. Underneath it all will be GM’s 6-speed manual transmission or 9-speed automatic.

I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I’m really looking forward to it!

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Photos via: [Motor Authority]