2012 Chevrolet Cruze quietly gains 2 miles per gallon *UPDATE

We're not entirely sure how they've done it, but those miserly engineers from General Motors have managed to eke out an additional two miles per gallon from the 2012 Chevrolet Cruze – at least in certain configurations.

According to the official Online Ordering Guide for the 2012 Cruze (via Cheers and Gears), GM's compact sedan, when equipped with the 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and six-speed automatic transmission, will be rated at 38 miles per gallon on the highway. We see no indication that there will be an improvement to the car's 24-mpg city rating. By way of comparison, the Eco model manages 42 mpg on the highway.

We're not sure how Chevrolet has managed to improve the highway fuel mileage of the Cruze for 2012, but then again, we're not complaining, either. Click here for the full spate of details of the 2012 Cruze. Thanks for the tip, Drew!

*UPDATE: Green Car Reports reports that the mileage increase was achieved by lowering the final-drive ratio to 3.53 from 3.87. We don't yet know what that means for acceleration or top speed.