The new Chevrolet Cruze Eco and its 42 mile-per-gallon highway gas mileage rating is likely to send the rest of the auto industry scrambling. Suddenly, every chief engineer is going to have to measure the fuel mileage of vehicles under development against a General Motors sedan.  It could be a painful exercise. At 42 mpg with a manual transmission, Cruze Eco is 2 mpg better than even GM had forecast. More significantly, it bests smaller cars like Honda Fit and Ford Fiesta. It's better than some hybrids, which can cost a lot more.  How did Chevy do it? It added more body panels to reduce wind drag, among other things.  Now other automakers are going to have to struggle for mpg boasting rights. A new Hyundai Elantra could deliver. So could the next Honda Civic. But if they can't best 42 mpg or come close, there could be hell to pay when sales are counted. Interestingly, even though gas prices have remained stable below $3 a gallon, surveys show buyers still care a lot about fuel conservation.  Cost is the key. Adding hybrid systems, turbochargers or diesel engines significantly increase their cost. The Cruze Eco will be more expensive than the base model, but won't blow the bank. Cruze Eco starts at $18,895, including shipping. The base model Cruze starts at $16,995. Chrissie Thompson of the Detroit Free Press says that's at least several hundred dollars more than its targeted foreign competitors, but Cruze Eco comes with more standard features.  The company will start building the Eco model this month, spokeswoman Lesley Hettinger tells the Free Press. Sales of the Eco model start by the end of the year, she said.  Just how does Cruze Eco's manual-transmission fuel economy stack up?:  At 28 m.p.g. city / 42 m.p.g. highway, it compares with the 26 / 35 offered by the Toyota Corolla, the Honda Civic's 26 / 34, the Ford Focus' 25 / 35 and the Hyundai Elantra's 26 / 35.  To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor  . For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to  . Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to
Chevrolet Cruze Eco could be GM's game changer - Drive On: A conversation about the cars and trucks we drive - USATODAY.com