Chevrolet
Chevrolet (/ˌʃɛvrəˈleɪ/ SHEV-rə-LAY), colloquially referred to as Chevy, is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM).
For other uses, see Chevrolet (disambiguation).Formerly
-
- Chevrolet Motor Company
- Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company
November 3, 1911
Acquired by General Motors in 1918[1]
- Americas
- Australasia
- China (excl. Hong Kong and Macau)
- Europe (excl. Russia and Belarus)
- Japan
- Middle East
- Philippines
- South Korea
Alan Batey, senior vice president[2]
- Vehicle financing
- Insurance
- Maintenance
- Repairs
- Sales
Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941), Arthur Chevrolet (1884–1946) and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant (1861–1947) started the company on November 3, 1911[3] as the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Durant used the Chevrolet Motor Car Company to acquire a controlling stake in General Motors with a reverse merger occurring on May 2, 1918, and propelled himself back to the GM presidency. After Durant's second ousting in 1919, Alfred Sloan, with his maxim "a car for every purse and purpose", would pick the Chevrolet brand to become the volume leader in the General Motors family, selling mainstream vehicles to compete with Henry Ford's Model T in 1919 and overtaking Ford as the best-selling car in the United States by 1929 with the Chevrolet International.[4]
Chevrolet-branded vehicles are sold in most automotive markets worldwide. In Oceania, Chevrolet was represented by Holden Special Vehicles, having returned to the region in 2018 after a 50-year absence with the launching of the Camaro and Silverado pickup truck (HSV was partially and formerly owned by GM subsidiary Holden, which GM retired in 2021). In 2021, General Motors Specialty Vehicles took over the distribution and sales of Chevrolet vehicles in Oceania, starting with the Silverado. In 2005, Chevrolet was relaunched in Europe, primarily selling vehicles built by GM Daewoo of South Korea with the tagline "Daewoo has grown up enough to become Chevrolet", a move rooted in General Motors' attempt to build a global brand around Chevrolet. With the reintroduction of Chevrolet to Europe, GM intended Chevrolet to be a mainstream value brand, while GM's traditional European standard-bearers, Opel of Germany and Vauxhall of the United Kingdom, would be moved upmarket.[5] However, GM reversed this move in late 2013, announcing that the brand would be withdrawn from Europe from 2016 onward, with the exception of the Camaro and Corvette.[6] Chevrolet vehicles were to continue to be marketed in the CIS states, including Russia. After General Motors fully acquired GM Daewoo in 2011 to create GM Korea, the last usage of the Daewoo automotive brand was discontinued in its native South Korea and succeeded by Chevrolet.
In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the prominence and name recognition of Chevrolet as one of General Motors' global marques, 'Chevrolet', 'Chevy' or 'Chev' is used at times as a synonym for General Motors or its products, one example being the GM LS1 engine, commonly known by the name or a variant thereof of its progenitor, the Chevrolet small-block engine.
Marketing
Chevrolet bowtie logo
The Chevrolet bowtie logo was introduced by company co-founder William C. Durant in late 1913. According to an official company publication titled The Chevrolet Story of 1961, the logo originated in Durant's imagination when, as a world traveler in 1908, he saw the pattern marching off into infinity as a design on wallpaper in a French hotel. He tore off a piece of the wallpaper and kept it to show friends, with the thought that it would make a good nameplate for a car. However, in an interview with Durant's widow, Catherine, published in a 1986 issue of Chevrolet Pro Management Magazine, Catherine recalled how she and her husband were on holiday in Hot Springs, Virginia, in 1912. While reading a newspaper in their hotel room, Durant spotted a design and exclaimed, "I think this would be a very good emblem for the Chevrolet." Unfortunately, at the time, Mrs. Durant didn't clarify what the motif was or how it was used. Ken Kaufmann, historian and editor of The Chevrolet Review, discovered in a November 12, 1911, edition of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper, an advertisement from the Southern Compressed Coal Company for "Coalettes", a refined fuel product for fires. The Coalettes logo, as published in the ad, had a slanted bowtie form, very similar to the shape that would soon become the Chevrolet icon. The date of the paper was just nine days after the incorporation of the Chevrolet Motor Co. One other explanation attributes the design to a stylized version of the cross of the Swiss flag. Louis Chevrolet was born in Switzerland at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Canton of Neuchâtel, to French parents, on Christmas Day 1878. An October 2, 1913, edition of The Washington Post seems, so far, to be the earliest known example of the symbol being used to advertise the brand.[109][110]
The first bowtie logo without embedded text first appeared in 1985, as part of the Heartbeat of America ad campaign.[111] In 2004, Chevrolet began to phase-in the gold bowtie that serves as the brand identity for all of its cars and trucks marketed globally, where previously the logo was blue for passenger cars and gold for trucks.[112]
Typography
The Klavika Condensed font was designed by type design studio Process Type Foundry under the art direction of Aaron Carámbula for General Motors marketer FutureBrand as part of Chevrolet's 2006 redesign. After the expiry of the exclusivity period, the commercial version of the font (Klavika Condensed) was released to the public in the fall of 2008.[113] In the Young Creative Chevrolet corporate identity guidelines, Klavika is listed for use in all communication materials.[114] Klavika was phased out beginning in 2012 and replaced by Knockout (from Hoefler & Frere-Jones[115]) while the campaign was still ongoing. Currently, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners is utilizing the typeface families Louis, a group of simplified, legible grotesque gothics named after co-founder Louis Chevrolet, and Durant, a roman group, just as simplified and legible, named after co-founder William Durant, on print, television and Chevrolet's website advertisements.[116]
100th anniversary
As part of Chevrolet's 100th anniversary in 2011, a dedicated channel was created by the American internet based Pandora Radio station, playing the Top 100 songs mentioning the brand.[117] Beginning on November 3, 2011, Chevrolet celebrated the countdown to its 100th birthday by encouraging its customers and fans to tell their Chevy stories, vote for their favorite Chevrolet cars and trucks, and take the birthday party to their communities with the help of Chevrolet and its dealers.[118]
A feature-length documentary titled 'Chevy100, An American Story', produced by Roger Sherman, was premiered on November 3, 2011 at Detroit Institute of Arts in downtown Detroit, featuring drivers, collectors, restorers, racers and journalists with a passion for cars and trucks.[119] In honor of the 100th birthday of Chevrolet, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Chevrolet and Indianapolis businessman David Ring have arranged to properly mark the grave of Arthur Chevrolet, brother of Chevrolet co-founder Louis Chevrolet.[120][121]
Watches
In 2007, General Motors allowed AJS-Production SA to register the Louis Chevrolet trademark for a line of premium quality Swiss watches watch marketed under the Louis Chevrolet brand name. Although the watches bear the name of Louis Chevrolet, they are not marketed or produced in association with General Motors.[163]
The watch brand pays tribute to Louis Chevrolet, co-founder of the Chevrolet automobile company, whose father was a watchmaker and in his childhood helped his father at the workbench. The collection was called Frontenac, the name inherited from the race car company founded by Louis Chevrolet. The Chevrolet watch collection comprises automatic, manually wound and quartz models, equipped with ETA and Ronda movements.
The Louis Chevrolet Frontenac watches, manufactured in Porrentruy, the Swiss Jura region, feature the styling cues suggested by the Chevrolet cars. The collection was developed while applying the same materials as used in the car industry. Pearled appliques on the Chevrolet watches' dials remind the metal forms of the old dashboards. The number "8", Chevrolet's racing number, is sported on the case back.[164]
Branding by other manufacturers
In December 2019, after AvtoVAZ acquired General Motors' stake in their former GM-AvtoVAZ joint venture and as part of the deal, AvtoVAZ kept using the Chevrolet branding for the Niva models.[92] The Chevrolet branding by AvtoVAZ continued until August 2020, when it was replaced with Lada.[165]
