Texas Chevrolet Review

"A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while."

Don McLean, American Pie, 1971

I remember the 1955 Chevrolet Bel-Air with the then-new overhead valve V8. A buddy had one in high school; repainted metal-flake tangerine orange, raked a bit lower in the rear with spacers in the front coil springs, no front bumper, four barrel carb, Hurst floor shift conversion. We was baaaaad.

Then one summer day in 1962, an incredible car appeared in my hometown.

It was a 1962 Rochester-fuel-injected 360-hp Corvette roadster. Every other car had carburetors in those days, and the new 'Vette's motor made a distinctive whistling sound. Airbrush vehicle art was in its infancy, but this car had a perfect rendition of the classic 1871 oil painting "Whistler's Mother", a conservative old lady in black sitting quietly, in the scoop area behind the front wheels.

Under the painting, chrome letters announced the car's name:

"Whistler"

I had seen the very last operational steam locomotive, and been awestruck by the first Boeing 707 jetliner. But at 14 years of age, I stood transfixed as Chevy's halo car literally whistled westbound up Main Street.

It was, beyond a doubt, the fastest and finest thing I ever had seen.

Bye-bye Miss American Pie?

Chevrolet was an American icon, glamorized in pop culture of the period.

Vietnam was just a far away country, gas sold for 19 cents a gallon, Toyota was unheard of, and one of every ten cars sold in the United States was a Chevrolet. The population of Texas was less than half of today's.

It was Ford vs Chevy at every stoplight. Honda hadn't even brought the 50cc motorbike to the US.

What was good for General Motors was good for America.

But when I drove my 1960 Chevrolet to San Francisco in 1968, a turning point had been reached for me, Chevrolet, America, and the world.

Not everybody noticed.

Today a brand must succeed on a world scale or perish.

Chevrolet, one of the top global automotive brands, is not among those likely to disappear.

Chevy accounts for a majority of GM's U.S. sales. GM isn't going anywhere unless Chevies are selling well. Saturn is being upscaled into the void Oldsmobile left, leaving Chevrolet the high volume bottom end of the market.

First quarter 2007 sales were off 1.4% from 2006.

Identity Theft

GM is using it's best recognized brand to go global: the bowtie emblem is sold in over 100 countries.

Globalization has adulterated the old Chevy nameplate: the "bowtie" insignia now appears on cars manufactured worldwide by marques like Daewoo, Subaru, and Opel. Stateside, platform sharing and brand coalescence continue to blur vehicle identities in a GM struggling to reinvent itself.

For example, Chevrolet Lova, for China, shares GM’s Global Compact Vehicle Architecture (Delta Platform) with Chevy Aveo. Both are built by GM-Daewoo in South Korea.

In China, shameless knock-offs ("Chery") plagiarize the Chevrolet identity.

A Pink Carnation and a Pickup Truck

By reliance on the gas guzzling Silverado pickup truck, Chevy's long time best seller, General Motors has painted itself into a corner.

The Chevrolet brand-building effort has cultivated working class images: current commercials show people using antique Chevies doing light duty work in historical settings, panning to current pickups.

I suggest they overhaul their ad spending in the same spirit as the product rollout, moving away from the proletarian baiting and patriotic imagery. Advertising should focus on the product itself, rather than trying so hard to create primitive emotional triggers in the dumbed-down public consciousness. Especially ineffective are fantasy episodes where light duty SUV's dodge falling timber on an alpine summit or spray 8 inch digital boulders from their front tires.

Management is fully aware of the above criticism. General manager of the Chevrolet brand, Ed Peper, recently orchestrated a successful campaign by soliciting user generated content for a Tahoe ad. While the video campaign generated much sarcasm, with lots of spoofs appearing on youtube.com, it demonstrated the division's fresh awareness of the environment.

Product Pipeline?

Aveo, Cobalt, and HHR are selling. Impala is doing well against Camry and Accord, but is not considered to possess the global sales potential of the reworked 2008 Malibu. A Camaro concept car has been dangled before the enthusiast public without a firm commitment. Management is wise not to throw too much cash at gas price sensitive projects.

The reluctance of Honda's management to invest in V8 engines is alternatively viewed as wisdom or foolery with each spike of oil prices. GM could learn much from them.

Successful new products should not rely excessively on retro styling attempting to invoke the greatness of past Chevrolets. What Chevrolet needs is a unifying theme: a distinctively styled makeover of the entire product line similar to what was done at BMW and Cadillac.

I believe that an ideal cohesively styled vehicle has yet to evolve. A vehicle integrated inside and out, and between models, presenting an iconic coherent image that would stand in stark contrast to the multitudes of ho-hum Camrys.

An obvious quantum leap forward, this would need to be true of the whole product line, not just a couple halo cars.

It is clear that BMW and Honda are attempting to accomplish this, but they are far from triumphant.

Shortening product life cycles call for interchangeability, not just platform sharing. Today's cars, almost all of them, tend to have different themes front and rear, and inside and out. Awkward lines and styling dissonance are common. Models within a make may be identifiable as members of a group only by the badge.

When these evolved cars are built, the need for hundreds of brands will have passed. To survive, GM must build these new cars. Electronic toys on the console are not enough.

Modern power systems are required. They must be fast and much more fuel efficient, without breaking budget. Cadillac is a start. Chevy should be next. A halo Camaro does less to restore brand lustre than laser like coherence throughout the marque.

Will GM's growth through acquisition strategy of the last couple decades impede progress? Opel and Izusu assets may detract from brand coherence.

The lesson for Texans is to examine each Chevy as an independent product, with particular attention to true cost to own and depreciation.

Around 4,000 US Chevrolet dealers averaged roughly 650 cars each in 2006.

This is falling toward the upper 500's in 2007, still enough to ensure the network survives. But the top 20% sell 80% of all Chevies. The consolidation wave continues to reward bigger dealers, buyers should always investigate the dealer, rather than being blinded by the deal.

Texas and Chevrolet

Chevy, Saturn, and Caddy are the new GM.

I'd feel safer buying from a well established Chevy franchise than from GM stablemate brands.

In the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Customer Retention Study, Chevrolets ranked 7th out of 37 makes. 55.3% of those surveyed returned to purchase another vehicle.

If I was buying GM, I'd prefer a Chevy.

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