Up until late last year, Chevrolet enthusiasts could proudly say that The Bow Tie was truly a global automotive brand. But after General Motors decided to withdraw Chevy from Europe‘s mainstream vehicle segments to protect Opel and Vauxhall, the global nature of the brand has become debatable.
Sure, Chevy will still have a (very limited) presence in Europe selling Corvettes and Camaros… but it won’t sell its core product portfolio such as the Sonic/Aveo, Cruze, or Malibu, among others. That cessation from one of the world’s largest automotive markets puts Chevy’s “global” status into question, even though the brand is still very much present in the Americas, Africa, Asia, as well as Russia and the CIS. Contrast that with Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, or Honda — all of which truly have a presence in every single market in the world, and Chevy seems to be at a disadvantage, as it GM: it’s the only major automaker without a “truly global” brand.
So what do you think? Does Chevy’s withdrawal from Europe mean that it’s no longer a global brand? Vote in the poll and sound off in the comments section.
Comments
I don’t understand this discussion…why has Chevy to be a global brand? (in my opinion it is a global brand) Is it less worth only because it stops selling cars in Western Europe?
It was the right decision as Chevy simply failed with its cars in Europe and because of the overlapping between the Chevy and the Opel lineup.
The real problem is that it seems that GM has not learned from this mistake. They now do the same mistakes with Cadillac and will burn a lot of money…
Chevrolet is GM’s favorite for america and the best most know brand of the company worldwide
Say GM you talk and you automatically have a Chevrolet in thought.
GM has done wrong in extracting Chevrolet Europe, now beginning to be a cherished brand, it must locate a definite step below Opel and continue selling.
And with all this, would have been good to add Cadillac over Opel, perfect movement, Chevrolet, Opel ( Similar to Buick in USA) and the luxurious Cadillac in the same dealers.
This would have been wonderful
Regards from Spain
For GM, “global brands” are NOT the solution. Sloan built GM differently than Henry built Ford–he focused on local needs and purchased local automakers with respected names.
Let Chevy sell in its current markets; allow Holden to continue in AU/NZ; let Europe have Vauxhall & Opel.
I do think, however, if Opel is aiming for mainstream, that the brand should be working with Chevy, not Buick. Clearly all three brands will share platforms and components but the mainstream brands should share design language.
The Sloan ladder doesn’t work in 2014. If it did, there wouldn’t be cars like the ATS to court younger buyers. Nobody is going to wait until they are in their late 50 to “reward themselves” with a Cadillac if they are an accomplished professional in their early 30’s.
If anything, the launch of the 3 series signaled the death of the Sloan ladder, and the end of the baseless idea of a luxury being something to own in your late years.
Opel has always been a mainstream brand.
The Sloan plan has been out dated for years and because it was not adjusted as time went on it has hurt GM globally.
Chevy is a global brand already as it is sold in most continents as Chevy or Holden now. The lack of Europe hurts but with Opel there already it is not like GM is not present in the market.
While Chevy is and will grow more global due to the needs of todays markets it will not replace Holden or Opel names. I expect once Opel is stronger and GM gains back its strength that they may bring back Chevy to Europe at some point. Right now was not the time to force the issue as Opel needed help and no interference with Chevy and Chevy needed more focused products for that market that GM was just not prepared to do at this time.
Because of the size of the Holden market I expect them to get a mix of all GM brands as now they can give them what they could never do before as they can do smaller numbers of models and still make money with the importing of special models.
If you also want to get technical Chevy is still in Europe in a limited way with the coming new Camaro and the Corvette. This will be a foot hold that at some point they will build off of. These two cars can do more to improve the image and when they have the right other products they can bring them in as they come out.
Opel can main stream in Europe as they can discontent the shared Buicks there. Not ever car in Europe is a top line model as we see here with BMW, Audi and Benz. They sell many cheaper discontented models as the public is very accepting of them there. Here since they mostly only send up the higher models we tend to forget there are many basic BMW and Benz over there. That is why you see them as taxis.
I’m not talking about Sloan’s ladder, which is outdated in the era of brands like Kia/Hyn directly competing while simultaneously courting different demos (The best future for Buick & Caddy).
I’m speaking to the manner in which GM has developed globally over the last century. This development has lead to healthy market share, generally out pacing Ford’s historic one brand stratagem with examples found in China and the small Australian market.
Has Chevy stated in Europe, it would have needed to abandon the mainstream position and went Skoda budget.
My main question is whether Opel & Chevy will start working together on mainstream product, in particular on small segment autos like Corsa, Adam and Astra.
The plan with Buick was based on Opel moving upmarket. Maybe Opel can work with both marques depending on project? This would allow for Chevy to compete with Kia/Hyn in certain markets like Brazil in the entry level luxury segment challenging autos like Genesis and Equus with Insignia and Lacrosse.
No, Chevy is not a global brand, but not every automaker you listed has a global brand. Honda sells next to nothing in Europe or S.A. Europeans have a very low opinion of Honda, so they could be compared to Chevrolet in Europe.
I don’t think it is necessity to have a global brand as long as you have a brand that is in every market. There is Chevy DNA in European Opels, just as there is Opel DNA in U.S. Buicks. It is not the best situation, but they are making it work.
Whilst the name was sold globally, it wasn’t really the Chevrolet that many Americans know and love. Exclusive (and crap) models meant the Chevy brand was perceived differently to the rest of the world. If Chevy was to sell the same line-up as America to the rest of the world, I think not only would Chevy survive globally but also would be perceived as a true global brand.
Chevrolet was never really a global brand in the first place, it has a huge sales following in the US & Canada and Latin America but that’s about it. It was never going to be a success in Europe, trouble was GM found that out about 8 years after everyone else already knew it. Australia was a also a no no ( and so was Opel). The trouble with trying to compare GM with Ford & Toyota is that they started as Ford & Toyota from day one and lets be honest Fords attempts at brands is far from perfect – Edsel, Mercury & Lincoln – and as far as Toyota goes Lexus after a good start is now a relative failure everywhere apart from the US, Nissan’s Infinity does not even register on the scale. I have never understood why the Americans have this obsession with Japanese cars, in Europe they viewed as nothing more than household appliances like a washing machine or a Hoover. Also just to add my usual Vauxhall plug I have done some number crunching on the other post of Opel’s European sales being up in March this year by 9.3% and 41% of the overall 9.3% increase was the result of an increase in Vauxhall sales in the UK. Over to Observer7 for the reply!! lol
Ok lets look at it this way.
Just what makes a global brand? Generally one that is sold in nearly all continents but not in every market correct?
Just where is Chevy Sold.
North America
Central America
South America
Africa [South and some other countries]
India and some neighboring areas
It is sold in the Middle East
While not in Europe proper it is sold and built in Russia and its smaller invaded countries
China
Korea
Malaysia and other near by countries
Australia and New Zealand as rebadged Holden’s where they share many of our present FWD models and will soon get out RWD models.
Leaving England and Europe but for two models that will continue to carry on for now.
As for being Global it depends on how you define global. To me it looks like they are pretty global and it is up for you to decide what is truly global.
Now some models are not shared between markets as they do not fit the needs. You are not going to get a Traverse in India or a Corvette in South America etc. But that is common for many brands in America.
But many of the cars sold as “Chevrolet” in Third World countries are actually Daewoo, Isuzu, Wuling or Baojun models under the hood.
Many are and many are not.
But you miss the point of the question. The question was Chevy a global brand. Then name is the brand. They are not asking if these are global model in all cases.
Branding is the name. Holden is he exception but the cars are nearly identical.
Chevy is still a damaged brand, with passenger car sales far behind Ford & Toyota, so it would seem as if the global question is of little consequence.
The real question should pertain to how GM can transform Chevy into a valuable and far reaching global nameplate.
It is time for GM to unite its two mainstream automakers, Opel & Chevy. Vauxhall outsells Ford in the UK, could do so globally, while such cooperation would save billions in design/r&d. In CIS, where products over lap, Chevy products could be sourced from Boajun.
This would allow for Buick to work with both (sale of cars deemed high end for Chevy). Chevy and Caddy for platforms, powertrains, even design staff.
This is just a business plan. I don’t know if it would work.
It’s never too late to start selling Chevy again in Europe!
@cruzeowner:
Yes, retreat from Europe for some hundreds of millions of Dollars, and come back and rebuild an unloved brand for some billions…makes sense
GM’s global brand is Cadillac.
Cadillac even appears in pop songs. Here is a list of titles containing “Cadillac”
Chevrolet was (here in Europe, in my view) just one of those US barges and muscle cars, and suddenly the name of a cheapo Korean import brand. Really confusing …