Archive for the ‘Launch’ Category
  • Opinion Desk: Success Of Next-Gen Chevy Aveo Depends On Marketing And Changing Consumer Perceptions
    by Alex Luft
    Posted February 27th, 2010 at 2:06 pm

    GM wowed many a car enthusiast (us included) when it first unveiled the Chevy Aveo RS Concept at the Detroit Auto Show. And just a few days ago, we were lucky enough to see some of the first official digitized pictures of the Aveo sedan. As the Geneva Motor Show gets underway this coming week, Swiss residents will have the pleasure of getting a hand-on look at Chevy’s mighty compact. But as good a product as the new Aveo may (seem to) be, its success in the marketplace hinges mostly on marketing as opposed to the product itself.

    Let’s contrast Chevy’s situation with the Aveo to Ford’s Fiesta – two direct competitors in the subcompact segment. Up until 2010, Ford didn’t have a subcompact in the U.S. market. As such, American consumers have no associations or pre-existing opinions about the Fiesta name (unless, of course, they’ve visited Europe). Now contrast that to the Chevrolet Aveo, a vehicle that has been sold in the U.S. for the last seven years. Needless to say, the present-day Aveo has (and to this day continues to be) the least-competitive offering in its class. To that end, the public already has a certain image of the Aveo ingrained in its head.
    I would be willing to bet (cold hard cash) upon hearing the words Chevrolet Aveo, the average car buyer thinks something along the lines of cheap, ugly, plastic, econobox. Obviously, these are characteristics no automaker would want to associate with their product.
    So as Ford brings an all-new nameplate to the U.S. with the Fiesta, Chevy is using an already-existing name, one that carries a negative vibe among current and potential clientele. (more…)
  • GM Volt: Hey Buddy, The Line Starts Back There!!! Well Not Really…
    by Hylton Jorssen
    Posted February 16th, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    2011 Chevrolet Volt Production Show Car

    Yesterday, we reported on a recent interview by Chevrolet Brand Director Jim Campbell in which he discussed how Chevrolet will manage the supply-demand pressures of the new Volt when it comes to market. Part of the solution is to roll out the Volt in three initial markets: California, Michigan and Washington, DC (which sounds like a political move more than a marketing one to me). In any event, a staggered introduction to market may indeed help manage the initial demand for the Volt, but what would you say if I told you that the first customers to plunk down a deposit in those initial launch states will not necessarily be the first to drive the car home?

    As absurd as this may sound, this is exactly what will happen. You see, behind the roll-out of any model lies a process used by GM called Dealer Allocation. Dealer Allocation is quite simply the number of units of a particular model a dealer will be able to acquire (and thus sell) in a given period of time. This number is usually formulated based on a combination of things. With respect to the Volt, I believe the allocation criteria will be formulated on the three following attributes: overall dealer performance, dealer sales of GM hybrid vehicles, and Toyota Prius sales in the area. (more…)

  • Chevrolet Chief On Volt Supply, Availability, Rollout
    by Alex Luft
    Posted February 15th, 2010 at 4:05 pm

    2011 Chevrolet Volt Production Show CarLast week, Lyle Dennis (from gm-volt.com) sat down with Jim Campbell, the freshly-appointed director of the Chevrolet brand and spoke about the Chevy Volt.

    When asked about the bow tie brand’s plans to meet initial demand for the vehicle, Campbell didn’t give a direct answer, saying “there are ways to manage [high demand]” and that Chevy “will prepare for those [instances].” What’s more, Mr. Campbell thinks the Volt will be a gateway product to other Chevrolet vehicles:

    Its always a challenging (scenario) but what I think is the positive side of it is that the fact there is that much interest keeps the enthusiasm high for Chevrolet overall. I think that provides benefits to the Chevrolet brand and all of the other vehicles that people start to notice and get introduced to that maybe they weren’t even thinking about when they started their level of interest in this case the Chevy Volt.

    When asked about the time frame for a national rollout of the hotly-anticipated PHEV, Mr. Campbell didn’t give a specific time frame but did say that the vehicle will eventually be available in all US markets. The Volt is currently set to launch in three initial markets including California, Michigan, and Washington D.C.

    Read through the full interview right here.

  • Ford Turns Tail To Truck-O-War
    by Manoli Katakis
    Posted January 31st, 2010 at 12:45 am

    Yes, it’s now officially okay to snicker and make chicken noises towards your F-series-owning neighbor, as Ford wussed out and officially turned down GM’s ultimatum offer of an esteemed (*cough*) truck pull between The General’s upcoming Heavy Duties and Ford’s new Super Duty models. This all started some odd days ago when GM’s Tom Stephens, vice chairman of global product operations, boasted the soon-to-be HD trucks by saying the following:

    You know what I want to do to prove it? I want to take our truck and Ford’s [new Super Duty] and chain them together back-to-back. Then I want to have them pull against each other. I know our truck will beat theirs.

    Now those are fighting words. However, Ford had the following rebuttal:

    We typically don’t respond to challenges. We let the vehicles speak for themselves.

    As in, “Hey GM, we have held the number one spot in truck sales for how many years now?” While that may burn some folks, it still doesn’t change the fact that Ford feels it’s above one of the purest forms of truck competition. Maybe Ram would be interested in playing…

    While not much has currently been leaked about the next-gen Heavy Duty, they are expected to debut at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show next month and the rumored budget has been an estimated $1 billion. With a budget that size, it’s gotta be good.

    The GM Authority Take

    While a truck pull may not feel like much to some and “immature” to others – we’d recommend lightening up for the sake of some fun. Ford just can’t handle the powaah. And to stick it to them, GM should winch up a Ford Super Duty (allegedly against its will) to the impending Chevy/GMC Heavy Duty for a future ad and show the world what’s up. May the best truck win.

  • DC Joins California And Michigan As Third Chevy Volt Launch Market
    by Conor Cameron
    Posted January 28th, 2010 at 8:52 pm

    Chevrolet recently announced that the nation’s capital will join liberal California and struggling Michigan as a test-bed for the Volt, GM’s new plug-in hybrid EV.

    As part of its cooperation with local utility companies, GM has partnered with DC area utilities Pepco and Dominion, which will facilitate the launch by helping to establish charging programs and ease the electric vehicle transition for consumers. Jim Campbell, Chevrolet General Manager, said the the initial launch is limited in scope in order to give early adopters the highest quality experience possible. The three initial launch markets were chosen for a combination of their strategic geographies, progressive local governments, and the presence of willing utility company partners. More than 100 Volts have been given to such companies in an extended pilot program to measure consumer feedback, The program is made possible by a $30 million grant funded by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The DOE will spend that money on 500 charging stations for personal, commercial, and public use. The $30 million comes on top of the $700 million The General has invested to develop and solidify its leadership in this technology.

    We have GM’s full press release after the break.

    (more…)

  • Rumormill: Chevy Manager Behind Chevy Volt Dance Reassigned?
    by Alex Luft
    Posted January 22nd, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    Click to watch the Chevy Volt Dance

    A few months ago, GM’s recently appointed VP of marketing, sales, and support, Susan Docherty, responded to a few (hundred) negative comments regarding the Chevy Volt Dance, saying:

    Our Chevrolet Volt advertising, marketing and go to market strategy will be as innovative as the car. We may have missed on this one, but we won’t going forward.

    It appears she wasn’t kidding, since we’re hearing rumors (through Twitter, nonetheless) that Maria Rohrer – marketing manager for the much-anticipated Volt – has been reassigned to head up Chevy truck advertising. It should be noted, however, that we don’t yet know how much Rohrer’s reassignment had to do with the Volt Dance (if anything at all).

    It’s no secret that the Volt is very important for The General’s future. Over the last few months, the Volt ad team – headed by Rohrer – has been working diligently on finding ways to educate the public about the Volt, its features, and benefits. As such, it seems there isn’t any reason to reassign the head of such an important function unless something has gone terribly wrong. As such, we don’t give this report much credibility just yet, since the Volt Dance was not something that damaged the Volt’s image; if anything, it attracted eyeballs and garnered publicity.

    Our own Manoli Katakis let us know that the dance crew was nowhere to be seen at this year’s Detroit Auto Show, even though this humble writer extraordinaire likes the song and the dance (available past the break).

    Now that Rohrer is director of Chevy truck advertising, perhaps we’ll see a few dances accompany the launch of GM’s next-gen Heavy Duty pickups at the Chicago Auto Show… sorry folks, I couldn’t resist.

    [Source: Green Car Reports via @johnvoelcker on Twitter]

    (more…)

  • GMC To Drop TV, Use The Web Exclusively To Market Granite – If It Gets Built
    by Alex Luft
    Posted January 20th, 2010 at 10:23 am

    NAIASGMCGraniteConcept01.jpgWhile we love the looks of the GMC Granite Concept that made its debut at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, we’re squarely set against the boxy compact slotting under GM’s “Professional Grade” brand. After all, there’s nothing “Professional Grade” about the Granite – it’s GM’s most “unprofessional grade” car to date. But if GM decides to produce the Granite, it could take a cutting-edge marketing approach, which would forego television advertising.

    According to Automotive News, Buick-GMC advertising director Steve Rosenblum said that the next step for GMC could be a four-passenger vehicle that slots below the Terrain. If you ask us, the Granite fits that description perfectly. Moreover, Resenblum put forth the notion that a Granite-like vehicle would be heavily marketed advertised to buyers under the age of 35 and that the ad campaign for the vehicle could be entirely Internet-based.

    What kind of web-based ads are we talking about? Rosenblum prefaced an example with the following statistic: by 2011, two-thirds of cell phone users under the age of 40 will own a smartphone. As such, Rosenblum spoke of developing a smartphone app that would lead consumers to a social networking site, where interested individuals would interact with designers.

    That sounds very interesting, creative, and cutting edge. As far as we know, it will be the first automotive marketing campaign to utilize the power of social media, web 2.0, and the current explosion in the popularity of smartphones (there’s a buzz word-filled sentence!).

    As for the “Professional Grade” tagline? Rosenblum said that GMC could exclude it from Granite marketing altogether.

    Make of that what you will, but we think that the Granite would be better off as a Chevy. Agree? Let us know in the comments!

    [Source: Automotive News - sub. req.]

  • GM Quietly Confirms Chevy Spark For North America. US Launch Imminent?
    by Alex Luft
    Posted January 8th, 2010 at 12:00 pm

    We never knew for sure whether the Chevrolet Spark would make its way Stateside, but today we are one step closer to having the tiny city car launched in the U.S., as GM confirmed that the vehicle will be makings its way to North America after all.

    A press release from GM announcing the Indian launch of the Spark (called the Beat, the Spark name is taken) at the Delhi Auto Expo reads:

    Based on GM’s global mini-vehicle architecture, the experts took 27 months to develop the Beat. Chevrolet Beat will be launched in over 150 markets around the world including those in Europe, other parts of Asia and North America in the coming days.

    Obviously, North America is bigger than the United States alone – so what we see here may be the confirmation that the Spark will come to either Canada, Mexico, or the U.S. But let’s take a few seconds to read into the wording of the release, shall we?

    It’s important to know that press release text is composed by professional writers. These things get revised, sometimes more than a dozen times, in order to portray the announcement in the most positive light (and to eliminate any negativity). Moreover, most scheduled press releases that companies know will be published in the future are written way ahead of the actual publish date. In effect, press releases aim not to leave anything to chance.

    Knowing this, the press release from GM doesn’t seem to make any exclusions for the North American continent. So if GM isn’t planning on bringing the Spark to the U.S., we would think the release would read something like this:

    Chevrolet Beat will be launched in over 150 markets around the world including those in Europe, other parts of Asia and certain parts of North America in the coming days.

    In any event, GM spokespeople have dropped hints here and there about a U.S.-bound Spark, but nothing to take to the bank just yet. Today’s cheap gas prices, along with the recently-unveiled Chevy Aveo Concept, may not make sense for a Spark-sized vehicle in the U.S., but as the summer of 2008 would care to emphasize – these prices have the potential to skyrocket very quickly. So in our opinion, it would make sense to have the Spark around in the U.S. on a “just in case” basis.

    And to add more gasoline to the fire, GM has a U.S.A. subsection on its official Spark website. On top of that, the Spark was designed with U.S. regulations in mind, as GM so eloquently pointed out in its press release (available after the jump.)

    (more…)

  • GM Exec: Chevy Volt May Cost Less Than Expected 40K
    by Alex Luft
    Posted January 7th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
    We know almost every single detail about the Chevy Volt, but are still missing one major piece of the puzzle: the price! Luckily, Jon Lauckner – GM’s chief of Global Program Development – was able to shed some light on the matter.
    Speaking at a ceremony marking the commencement of Volt battery production, Lauckner said that the price of the Volt could be significantly lower than the estimated $40,000, adding “We have until this summer to figure that out.”
    On top of that, rumors are rampant that GM’s board is thinking about pushing up the release date of the Volt, which is currently set to launch sometime at the end of 2010 in select US markets. This means that EV could be available at the end of the summer or in early fall of 2010. Such an early launch, however, would most likely mean that it would be available only to fleets or on a lease-only basis. 
    It seems that GM is looking at the competition (such as the Nissan Leaf EV) and doing its best to launch the Volt at an earlier time and at a lower price range. Nevertheless, we expect high dealer markups for the bow-tie EV whenever it’s available.  
  • Cadillac’s Latest Coupe Will Take Your V Card (Again)
    by Manoli Katakis
    Posted January 5th, 2010 at 10:59 am

    There’s only one thing anybody could possibly not like about the current Cadillac CTS-V:  the fact that it has two doors too many. Having realized this, GM will make the 2008 Cadillac CTS Coupe Concept a reality this year, and according to the latest statement from GM – the same is true of a CTS-V Coupe.

    It’s okay, that tingly feeling is natural.

    As GM told us last week, the gorgeous 556 horsepower chrome and leather missile will debut at the Detroit Auto Show next week. The news adds on to the already confirmed lineup including the (standard)  2011 CTS Coupe and all-new XTS for the two-week event.

    Rumors circulating about the show lineup potentially including Cadillac’s future BMW 3-series fighter, the ATS and the Converj, which underpins the Chevy Volt’s workings in amazingly cut sheet metal- have yet to be confirmed.

    The GM Authority Take

    I can’t pretend not to be I am completely stoked about the announcement that the CTS-Coupe will don the V badge and carry the 556-hp LSA engine. Despite my excitement, I still had the gut feeling it was coming anyways. But not unlike times when one is unsure they are loved until they hear the three magic words, it’s just that much more reassuring that GM made the announcement.

    For details galore, check out GM’s full press release after the break. (more…)

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