parent company General Motors has finally unveiled the new Australian-designed Cruze five-door hatch

Almost two years after Holden confirmed it would offer an all-new hatchback, parent company General Motors has finally unveiled the new Australian-designed Cruze five-door hatch.

The new Cruze hatch stays relatively faithful to the concept model unveiled in 2010, with only minor design changes to the front-end of the car including new headlights and a revised bumper, while it also sees new tail-lights and rides slightly higher over different wheels.

While the official images of the Cruze show it wearing Chevrolet badges, Holden's Australian-built version isn't expected to stray too far from the European production model (aside from wearing a slightly different grille and a Holden badge).

As Drive has previously reported, Holden will offer a range of engines for the new Cruze including a frugal 1.4-litre turbo (expected to be offered as the range topper), while revised versions of the current 1.8-litre four-cylinder and 2.0-litre turbo diesel will also be part of the range. A performance-focused Cruze hatch could also arrive at a later date.

Other details on the Cruze hatchback are still scarce, however Chevrolet Europe has revealed the new model's luggage capacity will be 400 litres – far larger than similarly sized competitors such as Subaru's Impreza (301L), Mazda's 3 (340L), Volkswagen's Golf (350L).

The new Cruze hatch is expected to go on sale from September this year, while the updated Cruze sedan (which will now be built in Australia rather than imported from Korea) will go on sale next month. The Cruze hatchback will debut at the Geneva motor show next week.