Chevrolet of Europe

[ohmywrd8]

How are the Epica and Captiva all all those other Euro-Chevy models selling? Anyone know?

[Uligar]

Western Europe small growing
Eastern Europe big growing

Captiva good seller
Kalos, Matiz good seller
Lacetti, Nubira, Epica bad seller

take a look at the attachment pdf on this site

[ohmywrd8]

Originally Posted by Uligar

Western Europe small growing
Eastern Europe big growing

Captiva good seller
Kalos, Matiz good seller
Lacetti, Nubira, Epica bad seller

take a look at the attachment pdf on this site

I wonder why the Epica doesn't sell well. It looks nice. Does it drive badly?

[Uligar]

In Europe there are too many good Cars in this segment (Epica,Nubira)

Most of the Chevrolets will be sold because they are cheap!!
(Kalos,Matiz and now the Aveo).

In Russia Chevy is a top seller with those little korean cheap cars!!!

[baloo]

It should be noted that with the exception of Russia, where sub-$10k cars are important, Chevrolet is a very small niche brand in Europe. Market share is 1.1%, down 0.1% from last year.

[Bravada]

Does it drive badly?

Nope, GM just spent about 10 Euros on marketing. The car itself is a very good effort, it could easily make Sonata history (not that Sonata is a sales leader, but still some volume is volume).

In Russia, the bulk of "Chevrolet" sales is the Chevrolet Lanos, i.e. the old Daewoo Lanos built in Poland by FSO (the plant that now serves as the source of Aveos for Europe), sent in CKD kits to AvtoZAZ in the Ukraine, assembled and exported to Russia with a bowtie under a free trade agreement.

The Captiva is a huge success though. The Lacetti gets massacred by the new Kia Cee'd - pretty much everybody does.

[t-rex]

Bravada, perhaps you can shed light on something.

What's the situation with the Russian Chevrolet Viva and Niva? They're not on the Chevrolet Russia website, but there's a somewhat crude GM-AVTOVAZ webpage that seems to be current.

Are the Viva and Niva sold through Lada dealers? Through special GM-VAZ dealers? How does this arrangement work?

[Bravada]

Viva - not. I think only a few hundred were sold last month. Something went wrong here. Niva - sure. I think it even outsells the old Niva.

There are three separate distribution channels for the bowtie in Russia, IIRC what Dimtry explained once. One is the "traditional" Chevy, whose dealerships sell GM DATs. The other are the Chevrolet Lanos dealerships, which do not necessairly have to carry other Chevrolets. Last but not least, the Viva and Niva are sold by AvtoVAZ dealerships...

Auto distribution in Russia is somewhat complicated, isn't it?

[t-rex]

Originally Posted by Bravada

Auto distribution in Russia is somewhat complicated, isn't it?

Makes sense. Viva and Niva are sold through old "Zhiguli" dealers and Lanos through former "Zaporozhets" dealers.

Shame the Viva isn't selling well. I reckon Russians aren't impressed with its "Luxury Assembling"...

[DmitryKo]

The problem with the Viva is its price - $19 000 is just $2000 short of vastly better Opel Astra in a standard Enjoy trim. No wonder people prefer the Astra to the Viva. The current rumours are that the Viva will be cancelled for the 2009 model year.


Again, neither AvtoVAZ nor GM-AvoVAZ nor UkrAvto (ZAZ) have their dedicated dealer network, because most domestic car dealers also sell just about any foreign brand they want to. See this post: http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1346738. Most Chevrolet (GM Daewoo) dealerships are multi-brand dealers as well and they often sell Opels, Fords etc. all at the same location.

As for Zhiguli dealers and Zaporozhets dealers, there are simply none. AvtoVAZ has switched to the Lada brand near a decade ago, and ZAZ withdrew from the Russian market after they were bought by Daewoo Motors back in 1998.

[SierraGS]

Originally Posted by ohmywrd8

How are the Epica and Captiva all all those other Euro-Chevy models selling? Anyone know?

2007 (12 month Jan-Dec)
Captiva 33,538 (Third Best seller)
Epica 8,224

Best Seller
Matiz/Spark 70,877

Second
Kalos/Aveo 55,264

Chevy Europe Total 205,493
Opel/Vauxhll Total 1,370,135

Opel Best Sellers
Astra 420,287
Corsa 416,477
Zafira 180,302
Meriva 132,833
Vectra 108,975

Antara (Opel's Captiva) 26,633

Some interesting top sellers and the Astra/Corsa prove GM can sell high volume cars

FYI Total European market 16,358,258 vs. U.S. 2007 market 16,153,952 so they are essentially equal.

[lio45]

What's the plan for these vehicles?

Is GM going to "merge" them with their non-Korean counterparts for the next generations?

[AG3]

Originally Posted by lio45

What's the plan for these vehicles?

Is GM going to "merge" them with their non-Korean counterparts for the next generations?

GM will move the GMDAT models to global GM platforms like the Captiva (Theta) and the upcoming Nubira (Delta II).