The truth about cars waxes on lyrical about how the Chevrolet Cruze is a class leader in the United States for its segment and how it is the first General Motors small car that can actually compete with the cars from Japan, Korea, Germany, etc. However the end comes with this snark;

The answer is simple: this is a Daewoo. My direct, repeated questions to GM personnel regarding the Cruze's Korean ancestry were answered honestly but with perhaps too-scrupulous attention to detail. I was repeatedly told that "the architecture was engineered in Germany", and I was repeatedly told about the "global nature" of the engineering, but the plain fact of the matter is that the Daewoo Lacetti was largely engineered, styled, and developed by Daewoo in Korea. It was then modified in some detail to become the Chevrolet Cruze. It's a Korean car, and if it isn't quite a Korean-market transplant like the Aveo, it's very far from being a European design like the Ford Focus or VW Jetta.

The issue of American engineering for the Cruze hardly came up. In the modern era, GM seems to source its electronics in China, its major systems in Europe, and its brainpower in Korea. It's smart business -- TTAC readers know about China's market and the limitless potential there -- but for those of us who wanted an all-American small car to draw a line in the sand, there's only disappointment.

The reality is that engineering skills are now a global enterprise and nationalism is no longer a guiding directive for the achievement of quality of good engineering. Whether the car was engineered in Korea, Germany, California, Australia or what, the engineering outcome these days is of increasing quality.

The days of Detroit being the leaders in automotive technology are gone. And the nationalistic price that is placed on cars is also long gone. Half of the Holden is a Chevy V8 and drivetrain. When the Pontiac GTO was shipped to America it had 50% American parts in it. The Chevrolet Camaro is on an Australian designed platform. The nature of automotive engineering due to its high costs and skill sets is a global enterprise.

Holding on to the nationalistic or nativist part of it is a waste. It is of a time that has gone. Governments encourage it too by subsidizing manufacturing which in many instances would be better done overseas. The building of the Cruze in Australia is a good example of that. It is a leading seller with the cars being imported from Korea. There is little need to build them in Australia as well.