Designer Tae Wan – who was part of a multinational team sourced from Australia, Germany and the USA working out of Korea – pointed out the Cruze’s wide stance, with each wheel pushed out as far as possible in the arches.

Squint a little and it’s almost a mini-muscle car, with a rakish roofline and angular side profile lines.

The company likes it so much its using the Cruze as a showcase for its new ‘design language’ across the range – meaning all future Chevys will look similar to this one.

And the Cruze doesn’t disappoint inside either.

The cabin boasts a unique ‘twin-cockpit’ design which creates dual zones for the front passenger and driver.

The quality of the interior plastic trim is good for a sub-£12,000 car, and feels like it will last. The dash controls – styled neatly in a centre ‘V’ shape – are easy to reach, and the driving position is infinitely adjustable and spot on.

Diesel Power

But looks and cabin quality won’t cut it alone in this fierce segment – today’s small saloon customer rightly demands much more from their cars.

To compete, Chevy is offering three engines and three trim options for the Cruze – a 150bhp 2-litre diesel, a 115bhp 1.6-litre petrol and 140bhp 1.8-litre petrol unit.

The diesel is a fine performer, with ample torque for overtaking and good refinement at speed.

The two petrol engines performed competently, but the 1.6-litre felt underpowered and both needed to be worked hard to make progress. Keeping pace on slightly challenging roads with moderate inclines sometimes required a downshift of the cogs.

But ambling around town and cruising on motorways all three engines were fine performers, and the five-speed manual ‘box was good and felt positive.

Just Cruz-ing

The Cruze debuts an all-new ‘platform’ for parent company General Motors. Dubbed ‘Delta’, this platform is essentially the chassis, and importantly for the UK, will form the basis of the next Vauxhall Astra.

We pointed the Cruze along challenging unblemished tarmac in Spain’s northern town of Santander and were rewarded with confident handling.

The Cruze threaded through a series of sweeping fast corners with good composure, and it gave confidence to press on. Pushing a little harder along twisty lanes began to showcase a hint of understeer, but for such a budget car with mass-market appeal it was perfectly acceptable.

However, the steering felt overly assisted and returned very little feedback about the road conditions. Most of the Spanish tarmac we tested was smooth, but over rough surfaces the steering felt numb.

That said, the suspension did a fine job of soaking up the discrepancies in road conditions and prevented the Cruze from rolling around too much when hustled, which bodes well for the car’s summer debut to the UK’s hotch-potch road network.

Trimmed

Chevrolet is offering up a decent level of equipment, with the mid-range ‘LS’ trim – expected to be the best-seller – getting air conditioning, 16-inch alloy wheels, a chrome edged radiator grille, front fog lights and reverse parking sensors.

Buy higher up the range and you get leather, cruise control, climate control, automatic anti-dazzle rear view mirror, a ‘high-output’ stereo, electric rear windows, chrome detailing, optional satellite navigation and 17-inch alloy wheels.

Chevrolet reckons it will sell 25,000 of these Cruzes around the globe, and with such an attractive price, good level of equipment and fine handling and performance, is a tempting prospect. While not quite as good as the Focus, the Cruze ticks most boxes for value conscious buyers.