LORDSTOWN, Ohio -- The way General Motors officials and Democratic politicians saw it, GM's official coming out party for the Chevrolet Cruze on Wednesday was clear evidence that last year's government bailout of the automaker is working.

GM's Lordstown Complex has actually been building the Cruze since early last month. But the company on Wednesday celebrated the first shipments of cars from the plant to dealerships, where they should be on sale in a matter of days.

About 300 auto workers and Chevrolet dealers were on hand for speeches by politicians, company officials and union leaders and a performance by the Boardman High School marching band.

GM has a lot riding on the Cruze. The company has said it needs to regain market share from rivals by offering the best product it can make in the highly competitive compact car segment.

That makes the Cruze GM's most important new vehicle since the company emerged from bankruptcy last year. The government invested about $50 billion in GM in loans and a 61 percent ownership stake. The company has repaid the loans and plans to sell shares as early as November, letting the government recoup some more of the bailout money.

The Cruze will help renew Americans' faith that General Motors can compete in the global marketplace against cars like the Toyota Corolla, the Honda Civic and the Ford Focus, said Mark Reuss, GM's president for North America.

"This is everything for us," Reuss said. "Winning in this small compact car segment is our first demonstration that we can win, that we can beat whatever the market throws at us."

The politicians at the party -- all Democrats -- defended the GM bailout and what it has meant for Lordstown.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, in a tight re-election fight against Republican challenger John Kasich, railed against those who opposed the bailout.

"They have long since written off manufacturing in Ohio," he said. In so doing, Strickland said, opponents turned their backs on GM, on Lordstown and on the plant's 4,500 auto workers.

"For anyone who had given up, I have four words for you," Strickland said. "Look at this car."

Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols declined to say whether Kasich supported the GM bailout, though he said Kasich is "glad GM is here today."

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, and U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, Democrat of Niles, expressed sentiments similar to Strickland's.

Brown noted that GM is making the engine blocks for the Cruze in Defiance and the transmissions in Toledo, and that GM's Parma stamping plant makes 49 parts for the vehicle.

"Every time someone buys a Cruze, it means jobs in the Mahoning Valley and jobs all around northern Ohio," Brown said.

Added Ryan: "We're going to make things again in the United States of America."

GM's Reuss said that Lordstown's success with the Cruze was a personal goal for him. His father, Lloyd Reuss, was chief engineer on the Chevrolet Vega built at the plant in the early 1970s. Reuss said that as a child, he spent several months living in Lordstown-area hotels as his father worked out production problems on that car.

In an interview, Reuss said he was running GM's Australian Holden subsidiary in 2008 when that brand launched the Cruze overseas. Holden had minimal sales in the small car market before the Cruze, Reuss said, but is now a close second to the Corolla.

"The car, in a very mature, fuel-conscious market, is doing well," Reuss said.

Jim Graham, president of the United Auto Workers Local 1112, which represents Lordstown assembly plant workers, said he has been impressed with GM's focus on quality with the Cruze.

"The training that we've done on this car is more than we've ever done in the past," he said. He added that GM has kept assembly line speeds low during early production. He expects the plant's three shifts to be at full speed by early December.

"Our people are upset because we're moving so slow," Graham said. "They want to get this car out to the public."