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.
Paging Ron Zarella.
What happened to Curly?
Tip to Chevy. Young people cant afford a 25k car.
This fits in with “The Big Lie…” premise.
Last year they kept claiming to be No.1 in the world and the MSM lacked the guts to challenge it.
Just act like you won and a lot of people will buy in.
Meanwhile let’s talk profits…
Bunter
I just purchased a 2009 Impala LTZ black on black with all the toys.To be honest I didn’t look
at anything else.The Malibu is very nice and I was tempted.But I had wanted an Impala for years and the price was right.
Before I retired from GM,I checked out out all the different color and wheel combinations,so I could get the right look.
It worked,at the car wash yesterday an Accura owner “said thats an Impala”?NICE CAR!
The car is smooth, tight,quiet, the door panels
and the interior in general is a little spartan.
The leather package helped,but the Malibu interior is far superior.
As far as build quality goes.After 36 years in car assembly I think know car inspection fairly well.
I can’t find a flaw in my new Chevrolet
Mikey: Congrats on your new Chevrolet. Now THAT’S how we get things turned around. Get out and buy a fine new car offered by one of the big 3 and talk it up. THAT’S putting your money where your mouth is. We get nowhere by listening to these people constantly talking down the domestic offerings in favor of the foreign. Enjoy that new car, you made an outstanding choice!!
dual, while I agree in principal, I, too, bought domestic to “put my money where my mouth is” and my 2006 Ford Fusion SE is an overall disappointment in fit/finish quality. Maybe Mikey is/was a better assembly worker than the folks who put the Fusion together (and yes, I’m aware it was hecho en Mexico). Will I buy a Ford again? Doubt it…just too many issues already.
I keep looking at my son’s 1997 Toyota Tercel pushing nearly 200k and the interior is holding up much better than my two and half year old Fusion. I’m sorry, I really want to believe Ford/GM are on par, but I can’t come to that conclusion.
I do wish Mikey the best of luck with the Impala. I had an Impala as a rental beast a few months back with the LTZ trim…not a bad interstate cruiser…
Bragging about a fractional increase in market share when the market has been cut by a third is like bragging about finding a a $5 bill laying on the ground after your entire neighborhood was flattened by a tornado.
Out of chaos comes delusion.
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!