Chevy to Grab Market Share By the Bull
Farley was first. Last week, Ford’s marketing maven threw down for The Blue Oval Boyz, declaring Crazy Henry’s mob’s would grab a bigger slice of the new car pie. Now Ed Peper’s prognosticating a more prodigious piece of America’s deflated new car market. Chevy’s brand Veep stepped up to the microphone at the Automotive News World Congress (our invitation got trapped by the spam filter) and told the world– well, Detroit– that the bow tie brand is ascendant. “We gained six-tenths of a point of (retail) market share last year,” Eddy declared. “This was the second-highest year-over-year share gain among all car brands, behind only Honda.” Hang on; what’s this then? “Chevrolet’s 2008 total market share was 13.5 percent, down from 13.9 percent in 2007, according to the Automotive News Data Center. Toyota Division overtook Chevrolet as the top-selling brand in 2008, rising to 13.9 percent from 13.4 percent in 2007.” Hmmm. Anyway, you’ll never guess how Chevy will steal sales from its rivals. Government checks for buyers? Well, not directly. (Just kidding. Sort of.) Nope. Marketing!
“‘Chevrolet will target its fuel solutions message at younger, environmentally conscious buyers using a lot of digital marketing and at ‘opinion influencers,’ Peper said. To reach the latter group, the brand will use TV spots.”
Whoa! TV spots. Rad! But don’t get to thinking that Peper doesn’t know what’s hip, hot and happening.
“Today, a new administration takes charge in the nation’s capital,” Peper said, his voice heavy with historical import (presumably). “We are optimistic that President Obama understands what this industry means to the country, but we can’t just be optimistic. We have to act. We have to set the record straight!”
And there I was, thinking he was going to say something about building better cars. Never mind. Speaking of history (shout out to Menno), clearly Ed doesn’t “get” irony. This is Mr. P’s description of the scene in Washington, when Moe, Larry and Shemp (sorry, but I’ve meaning to do that for months) appeared before the U.S. Congress to appeal for bailout billions.
“It was like watching a time warp,” Peper said. “General Motors, Ford and Chrysler being treated like they were Nash, Studebaker and DeSoto.”
Hey, he said it.
More by Robert Farago
Comments
Join the conversation
The 2006-2009 Impalas are decent mid size car values. I have driven numerous examples with base 3500's to SS models with the 5.3 liter V8 and all have been very solid with no squeaks and rattles, well put together interiors and no issues to report. And the lower end 3500 versions can see well over 30 MPG in highway driving all day long with there old fashioned 4 speed automatics and pushrod V6 engines. To put this into perspective, a neighbor owns a 2007 Camry Hybrid 4 cylinder and she averages about 32 MPG on the open road. Her car was nearly 30K on the sticker, uses a complex hybrid powertrain that reduces the trunk to less than 11 cu. ft. vs the Impalas 18.6 cu. ft. and her car has a 4 cylinder engine that stutters and stammers to life on the daily drive cycle. A typical LS or LT Impala brand new sells for 20K or less! I know which of the two cars I would buy if given a choice for a daily driver over the long haul!
Hey if I buy that Chevy, then I'm a Peper! He's a Peper! You can be a Peper too!