In spite of plans to discontinue offering Chevrolet vehicles in mainstream segments in Eastern and Western Europe, General Motors will continue the high-profile sponsorship of Manchester United to promote the Chevy brand. The $600 million sponsorship agreement with the European soccer (football) franchise started in 2012 and lasts for a period of seven years.
The General states that the global appeal of Man U makes the deal valuable:Â “It is a global partnership, very much focused on the fans in Asia and specifically China,” GM spokesman Vijay Iyer said in an email. “The next big step will be the Season 2014/15 when the Chevrolet Bowtie will be featured on the Man United shirt.”
The GM Authority Take
We’re still somewhat dumbfounded by GM’s decision to remove Chevrolet from the European market. Nevertheless, it appears that the Manchester United deal carries international value in such vital markets as China. If that is, indeed, the case, then GM’s decision to continue honoring the sponsorship holds water. It would, however, have been interesting to see Chevy’s sales performance in Europe after the 2014/2015 season, when its logo would grace the team’s jerseys.
Comments
Biggest mistake ever they should have stayed in the WTCC….
“We’re still somewhat dumbfounded by GM’s decision to remove Chevrolet from the European market.”
So are we all.
After thinking it a couple of days it feels even more stupid than last week. One option that GM probably didn’t think at all is that instead of differentiating Opel and Chevrolet they could have made two brand strategy a strength. GM Dealers and GM Services, only one organization to take care of all GM vehicles.
Chevrolet was never set up for success in Europe. One of the main problems being that its products shared dealer floor space with Opel, which meant a lot of overlap.
Another issue is that Opel isn’t really much of a premium brand in the eyes of consumers, despite the the PR team dropping brand names like “Audi” to compare with in their press releases. This continued to cannibalize Chevrolet.
Yet Opel, a regional brand that didn’t even make it a year in Australia and is a ghost in the Chinese market, gets priority over GM’s most recognizable global brand that’s allowed to flourish everywhere else? A lot of signs are beginning to point towards Opel being protected. Its future product lineup better be dynamite.
If GM really wanted to make Chevy a specialty brand in Europe, they need to allow Holden to export the sports model Commodores, Caprice and HSV’s badged under Chevrolet… Makes Chevy a stronger brand in Europe despite the changes and solves Holden’s economies of scale woes.
Last thursday was a sad day for Europeans and this day for Australians.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20131210/OEM01/131219970/gm-to-end-vehicle-engine-manufacturing-in-australia#axzz2n90Qk2nT
Man U is pretty big in Asia, so I understand this decision, especially as a shirt-sponsor. A lot of Asians walk around with those shirts of their favorite English club. But worth $ 600 million? I’m not sure.
I don’t think it would have made a big difference to Chevrolet in Europe, don’t forget soccer/football has a lot of animosity between fans. Man U haters would never buy a Chevrolet.
Opel is very carefully protected in Europe. Chevrolet was only let sell models that are not very popular in Europe. Only one year ago Cruze got SW, which is the most important model in Europe. Even today it is not sold with 1.4 T in the UK.
Trax 1.4 T FWD would have been a good seller too. We all remember that Trax sales couldn’t start at the same time as Opel Mokka. Only after 100000 Mokkas was sold, it was time for Trax.
Opel did everything it could to terrorize Chevrolet sales.