All told, Chevy will be scattering 51 vehicles throughout SEMA’s various halls this year. Ten of those will be Cruzes, two of which we checked out prior to heading to Vegas.
The Cruze Dusk and Cruze Z-Spec (pictured above) are mechanically similar—both are equipped with the optional 1.4-liter turbo four—but the designers have used different combinations of off-the-shelf accessories and one-off parts to create two distinct concepts.
Chevrolet Cruze Dusk Concept
Two SEMA shows ago, Chevy brought along the Camaro Dusk concept, a subtly modified coupe painted Berlin Blue. The same treatment has been applied to this Cruze, which wears custom silver 19-inch wheels, a prototype body kit, and satin-metal trim in place of shiny chrome. The brakes have been upgraded to four-piston front and two-piston rear Brembos, a Borla exhaust peeks out from below a new rear fascia, and the suspension is lowered with a kit from Pedders. Peanut-butter-colored leather (GM calls the hue Mojave) classes up the interior, and the whole car has a sophisticated and slightly menacing feel to it. “Dusk” is apparently popular at Chevy, as there’s also a Sonic Dusk headed to SEMA this year.
Chevrolet Cruze Z-Spec Concept
The Z-Spec takes the same basic mods—Brembos, Borla exhaust, lower suspension—and packages them into a boy-racer sedan. Z-Spec is Chevrolet’s accessory line, which the company announced it would extend to the Sonic at the New York show earlier this year. The company plans to expand the catalog to include stuff for the Cruze, and so this car gets a Z-Spec grille, Z-Spec decals, a body kit, a Torch Red paint job, and a matching red interior.
