SPY PICS: New Cruze undisguised

General Motors' second-generation Cruze has been snapped undisguised for the first time ahead of an expected debut at the New York motor show on April 17, followed by its Chinese debut a few days later at the Beijing motor show.

Showing off an altogether new look that is less an evolution of Holden's current Cruze and more a clean-sheet design, the photos were snapped in Shanghai and first published by AutoSohu.com.

Although Chinese-market Cruzes differ slightly from those sold in other countries including Australia, the overall design of the MkII Cruze is again expected to be similar in all markets globally.

However, Holden Corporate Communications Manager Sean Poppitt indicated that China’s next Cruze may be differentiated more significantly this time round.

"The first iteration of the next-gen Cruze will be announced later this year in China," he told motoring.com.au. "This all-new 2015 Cruze was developed specifically for consumer tastes and needs in China.

"Differentiated variants for other markets will launch in due course. The Cruze program is flexible enough to meet regional markets needs without compromise. We have no additional info about those variants to announce today."

Poppitt would not comment about the future of the new Cruze in Australia, where it’s likely to be positioned as a cheaper small car than the soon-to-be-reintroduced Opel Astra wearing Holden badges.

The Astra’s relaunch could be a precursor to a range of new Holden-badged Opels, including the Corsa, Insignia, Zafira and Cascada.

Expected to be launched globally in 2015, the new Cruze will not be produced in Australia by Holden, as is currently the case, because it is based on an all-new platform which would require significant investment in the company's manufacturing base in Elizabeth, South Australia.

Holden has pledged to build cars in Australia until 2017, when the last homegrown Commodore is expected to roll off the line before GM ceases manufacturing here.

How long Holden continues to produce the existing Cruze remains the subject of speculation.

There are rumours that Holden will soon axe upstream SRi-V and CDX versions of the Cruze, paving the way for Astra hatch and sedan models to hit Holden showrooms.

There is also speculation that Holden will release a Z-Series version of the Cruze in coming months, which would effectively mark the beginning of the model’s run-out sales campaign and a premature end to Cruze production in Australia.

However, motoring.com.au sources indicate Holden will continue to produce the current Cruze alongside the VF Commodore (the 50,000th example of which was produced last week) in Adelaide as long as there is demand.

Cruze sales to February this year were 16 per cent down, with just 2828 sold. That represents a small 7.3 per cent share of Australia’s dominant mainstream small-car segment, well behind the Mazda3 (21.9%), Toyota Corolla (16.1%), Hyundai i30 (12.5%), Ford Focus (8.8%) and even the Volkswagen Golf (8.6%).

As is clear from the photos, the new Cruze shows a much sleeker and more contemporary design than the current model, with heavily raked windscreens giving the car a faster look.

The look is consistent with disguised pre-production vehicles exposed during testing last year and the new Cruze’s Astra-inspired interior also appears to be a much smarter affair, featuring a leather-lined dashpad and large touch-screen infotainment system.