GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

Shortly after their recent stock sale, General Motors announced it would be spending $40 million on clean energy investments across America.

The company said its goal in doing so was to reduce carbon emissions by eight million metric tons over the next few years.  The eight million ton value is the same amount of carbon dioxide produced by electricity use in nearly 1 million US homes, and is the same amount 1.7 million acres of pine forests can absorb.

More saliently, it is also the same amount of carbon dioxide the 1.9 million Chevrolets expected to be sold in 2011 will produce.

As such,  the funding for this initiative will come specifically from the Chevrolet brand and will be spent over the next 3 to 5 years on various projects that “promote energy savings, renewable energy, responsible use of natural resources and conservation in communities across the United States.”

Funds will be awarded through third-party non-profit organizations such as the Bonneville Environmental Foundation based in Portland, Oregon.

Projects to be considered for funding may include the following:
* Providing energy efficient technology such as smart energy sensors and solar panels to schools and other community-based facilities in need of upgrades to decrease carbon dioxide emissions and reduce heating bills.
* Supporting wind farms and solar projects that deliver renewable energy to the grid and also help family farms increase their revenues per acre.
* Capturing flammable methane from community landfills that delivers clean energy to the grid and improves local air quality and safety.
* Contributing to forestry projects throughout America.

“GM has made great progress in reducing our environmental impact, but we know we can do more,” said GM CEO Dan Akerson. “Chevrolet’s investment is an extension of the environmental initiatives we’ve been undertaking for years because the solution to global environmental challenges goes beyond just vehicles.

“This is an opportunity to connect with Chevy customers through clean energy projects that directly impact them,” he added.

A website has been set up to help explain the program: http://www.chevycarbonreduction.com/

Chevrolet has also produced a Tim Allen-narrated TV commercial called Spaceship Earth promoting the program and starring guess which car?

We just recently saw the first Chevy Volt commercial which aired on Wednesday in the World Series. Accompanying that 30 second commercial were three other Chevrolet commercials.

All are narrated by comedian Tim Allen and all evoke memories of this country’s past and how Chevrolet has been a thread that ties the decades together. The advertising tag line “Chevy Runs Deep” tries to remind consumers how much a legacy the brand is for the country, and how it is still alive. Furthermore the brand’s future is exemplified prominently by the Chevy Volt.

The following commercials illustrate these ideas:

1. Babies:

2. Dogs in trucks:

3. Chevy runs deep:

4. That first Chevy:

It is obvious GM has abandoned the ill-conceived memo of former brand director Jim Campbell to not call the brand Chevy, which is good. Whether prompting consumers to remember Chevy’s role in this country’s past will sell more cars isn’t known. The new advertising push is being led by GM’s new VP of marketing Joel Ewanick. The ads were conceived by GM’s new advertising partner Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, who took over after GM severed ties with Campbell Ewald with who was their advertising partner for over 90 years.

“Are we going to wrap ourselves in the American flag? No, we’re not, but we are going to wrap ourselves in the values and the character that has been part of this country for centuries,” Ewanick said. “That’s what we want to be.”

These commercial are reminiscent of previous patriotic campaigns such as “Heartbeat of America” and “American Revolution” that didn’t necessarily drum up a lot of business. Of course back then there was no Chevrolet Volt.

Ewanick believes this strong historic American theme is something Japanese competitors cannot claim, and allows the brand to be set apart. “We have a soul that our strongest competitors don’t have,” Ewanick said. The question is, will it work?

Quote Sources (Reuters)

The Chevrolet Cruze is the gas-powered sister car to the Chevy Volt, riding atop the same global compact delta platform.  It is also one of GM’s greatest hopes for its future, a feature-packed luxury-like small car in an affordable price range.  It is designed to sell at high volumes and compete head on with bread and butter cars like the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic.  And unlike GM’s past small cars is to be sold at a profit.

The car has been on sale for more than a year internationally with over 165,000 having been sold, and starting today launches in the United States.  The first US retail Cruze rolled off GMs Lordstown Ohio production line at 10:30 AM today and will be delivered to a dealership. The configurator is now online, and pricing will begin below $17,000.

Accompanying the launch of GMs most important car next to the Volt, will be an advertising blitz including television commercials.  Movie and TV star Tim Allen, perhaps known best for his most famous role on the Home Improvement TV series, is GMs choice for the voice and spokesperson for the car, and indeed the Chevrolet brand as a whole.

Joel Ewanick who comes from Hyundai and is GMs new marketing chief told Automotive News his views on advertising the Chevrolet brand.  He said GM wont hammer home the message that Chevrolet is an American icon.  ”The nice thing about Chevrolet is that people know it’s an American brand,” he said. “We don’t need to remind them of the obvious.”

Ewanick doesn’t prefer the term social media it seems.  ”Maybe we need to change the language, it’s not media, it’s social engagement,” he said. “Aren’t we causing a conversation? Media is when you buy television or print.”  Whatever you call it, he promised some new social initiatives.  ”We’re going to do interesting things ,” he said.  ”Even this fall with the Cruze launch. ”

He also doesn’t believe Chevrolet needs a special theme or tagline. “I think the bow tie speaks for itself.” said. “And you’ll see us use the bow tie prominently and proudly in everything we do. ”

Ewanick feels strongly about having halo cars for the brand, and sees them as a good thing.  ”We should be using the Corvette to make a statement about Chevrolet,” he said. “Tying the Corvette to Chevrolet is a beautiful thing.”

“The Chevrolet brand has several halos, he said.  ”The Camaro could be a halo. You could look at the Volt as a halo product.”

“I hope we turn the Cruze into a halo in that segment,” he added.

GM has released two 30 seconds commercials including Allen’s narration which have begun appearing on national television.

You can see them below:

Source (GM) and (Automotive News)

Lets start off by saying the obvious. GM needs the Cruze to be a winner in the US. It has never been more clear given GM’s August results. The bulk of GM’s 25% downswing was because of not being able to compete in the compact and mid-size car market. Well, that and being up against CFC (cash for clunkers) in the summer of 2009.

The Chevrolet Cobalt production has long stopped in Lordstown, Ohio, and there has been a very large gap between that car and the new model because of production delays. The Cruze finally starts production on September 8th of next week, and with no current compact in production, many GM customers are either delaying their purchase, waiting to see if GM’s latest offering will be worth it, or going elsewhere. August sales of the Cobalt fell 67% to 5,643 cars from 17,393 the year prior. /yeesh

Part of GM’s solution to get the word out on the Cruze, and to regain lost market share from their Japanese rivals, is to return to a old strategy. Namely, asking their 3,000+ Chevrolet dealers to go out and buy a new Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic so potential Cruze customers can compare the two, right on the spot…at a Chevy dealership.

The thinking behind the promotion is fairly straight forward, and makes sense at first glance. The Civic, like the Cobalt, is very long in the tooth, and is scheduled for a much anticipated, full model overhaul for May of 2011. Likewise for the Corolla, which is the best selling car of all time, now having been on the market since a more slight model upgrade happened in October of 2006 (as the Axio in Japan), and is also firmly behind the curve, looking dated at this point.

Margaret Brooks, Chevrolet small-car marketing director, said at a press conference for the Cruze that she expects customers to “come away with a favorable view of the Cruze,” but is that good enough.

The bottom line for GM with this promotion, and why it is not likely to be a success, is that people are coming to your dealership to see your car…why show them what the competition has to offer? Even if your product is better, if it gets consumers in the mood to start shopping around, like to Ford with the Fiesta and upcoming Focus, or to Hyundai/Kia-who really know how to sell a small car, why do it? People might start to wonder why the Cruze doesn’t have a hatch, or a two door option, or why you have to pay the premium dollars to get the 40 MPG version?

I commend GM for the effort and having faith in their cars, the Cruze is as good or better than just about anything in its segment right now, but they have tried this before with the Saturn Aura, and more recently with the Malibu against the Camry/Accord, and it just did not work.

Sell the car…not the competition.

(Source: Automotive News – sub)

Editor’s Notes: You can also check out brand new pictures below of the Chevy Cruze hatchback.  This car is going on sale in Europe though won’t appear in the US.

US Chevrolet Cruze retail production will begin next on Wednesday September 8th at the Lordstown Plant in Ohio and the official Chevrolet configurator is now online. Pricing begins at $16,275.

Tim Allen has been hired as the official celebrity spokesperson and will appear in advertising also slated to begin next week.

After three and a half years of calling our favorite car the Chevy Volt, and decades of using the word Chevy apparently GM has decided the time has come to stop doing so.

The company issued an official memo to employees to stop referring to the brand as Chevy.  Citing the need for consistency to help build the brand and produce a singular message, from now on all members have been told to only use the word Chevrolet.

This new idea also coincides with GM firing the Campbell-Ewald marketing agency the company has used for 90 years and switching to Goodby and Co.

The memo is as follows:

We wanted to write you a quick note requesting your support of our Chevrolet Brand. When you look at the most recognized brands throughout the world, such as Coke or Apple for instance, one of the things they all focus on is the consistency of their branding. Why is this consistency so important? The more consistent a brand becomes, the more prominent and recognizable it is with the consumer. This is a big opportunity for us
moving forward.

As you know, we are investing substantially to improve the consistency of our retail facilities through the EBE process. Aside from the facilities aspect of our branding, there are many other ways in which we can demonstrate this consistency. One way to achieve this is with the use of Chevrolet vs. Chevy. We’d ask that whether you’re talking to a dealer, reviewing dealer advertising or speaking with friends and family, that you communicate our brand as Chevrolet moving forward.

We have a proud heritage behind us and a fantastic future ahead of us … speaking to the success of this brand in one consistent manner will ensure Chevrolet becomes even more prominent and recognizable than it already is.

Thank you for your support of this effort!

Not being a real member of the Chevrolet team, I of course did not receive this memo.  I was all ready to support the cause if it was for the greater good when GM issued a press release as follows:

Today’s emotional debate over a poorly worded memo on our use of the Chevrolet brand is a good reminder of how passionately people feel about Chevrolet.  It is a passion we share and one we do not take for granted.

We love Chevy.  In no way are we discouraging customers or fans from using the name.  We deeply appreciate the emotional connections that millions of people have for Chevrolet and its products.

In global markets, we are establishing a significant presence for Chevrolet, and need to move toward a consistent brand name for advertising and marketing purposes.  The memo in question was one step in that process.

I had reached out to Klaus-Peter Martin of GM corporate communications.  He explained the situation to me the following way:

The Chevrolet vs. Chevy question is simply about how we communicate the brand going forward in advertising and other external communications. We love when people call us by our nickname “Chevy”. But Chevy is not our official brand name – it is Chevrolet. In the US Chevrolet and Chevy stands for the same thing and is understood as such, but Chevrolet is also one of the fastest growing automotive brands globally. In many of these countries we are just about to establish brand awareness for Chevrolet, so by calling us consistently Chevrolet helps to expand our reach. This process will take time and will not happen over night.

Finally, John Hughes, marketing manager for the Chevy Volt summed it up this way:

I will refer to it as the Chevrolet Volt.  You can call it what you like as long as you keep talking about it.

And that I shall.

Source (New York Times)

GM has been displaying the Orlando concept for some time.  The diminutive people-mover either seats seven people or allows ample room for cargo.  Since it is built on the same compact delta platform as the Volt (and Cruze) it has the potential to easily receive the Voltec propulsion system.  Former GM vie chairman Bob Lutz even once indicated GM was studying a Voltec Orlando.

The car would also represent a chance for GM to re-enter the minivan market with a vehicle that even with a gas engine would be expected to get good fuel economy.

In January of 2009 GM announced it planned to launch the car in the US in 2011.

In a sudden about face, on Friday, GM’s North American President Mark Reuss decided to scrap the vehicle.

“The best thing to do for Chevrolet is to focus on the brands we’ve already brought to market: the Traverse, Equinox, Malibu and, soon to come, the Cruze,” said Marget Brooks, GMs director of small car marketing said. “We feel that with those vehicles, Chevrolet has plenty of options for the modern family.”

GM will still sell the car in Asia, Europe, and Canada.

By cancelling this car GM will make room for increased sales and production of the larger Traverse, and five passenger Equinox and Malibu.

GM was concerned the Orlando could eat into sales of these already popular cars.

So for those of you who have been hoping for a Voltec Orlando, your dream may have just ended.

Source (Automotive News)