Right now, IMO, I think Chevrolet has three cars that arent too bad:

Corvette, Cobalt, and even though Im not a huge fan of it, the Aveo. These cars all seem to sell very well in their respective segments (esp. the Cobalt and Aveo). With the redesign of the Aveo forthcoming, I think that little car will continue to sell.

Now, can you imagine how well Chevrolet would be doing (and how well they would be perceived) if they had a Mustang and 300/Charger competitor? Impala sells, but is perceived to be a low quality cheap sedan by the average import buyer. Then of course there is that gaping hole that was once filled by the Camaro. This lineup I could live with:

Corvette
Camaro
RWD v6 and v8 300/Charger competitor
Impala (the redesign isnt bad, but could be better)
Malibu (redesign the front and rear ends)
Cobalt
Aveo (the forthcoming redesign isnt too bad, kinda resembles Cobalt)

Then throw in the new trucks and SUV's coming out and I could live with a lineup that looked similar to that. With this lineup, you've got just about everything for everyone, from A to B drivers, to college students, to performance buyers in all income levels. I may have left some points out so feel free to throw ideas around. What do you guys think?

 

What are the new trucks and SUV's? Is there a Silverado/Suburban/Tahoe redesign in the works? Like a new chassis and all that good stuff?

 

Hmmm...

Last I checked the Malibu and Impala were selling very well.

If it ain't broke...

 

Well it may not need to be fixed but the updated models are both going to sell really well. I can see people buying the 06 Bu instead of the 05 just because the design is a little more conservative and attractive. Both cars are going to continue to sell 200K units a year with no problem.

 

I knew about the Impala, but didnt know the new Malibu was selling that well....

 

Is this whole post just a way of working yourself up into buying an Aveo? SFireGT98, I think it's time that you friends and family performed an intervention. There is no excuse for buying an Aveo. None. Absolutely none. Zip. Zero. Nada.

Now, breath into a paper bag and repeat:

I will not buy an Aveo.....I will not buy an Aveo.....

 

You mean like in the first few years of the 4th gen FBody? They were selling then and GM didn't fix them.

 

What are you talking about... they upgraded to the LS1 in 1998 didn't they?

 

You should check more frequently. Impala sales are down 11% so far this year and is about to be overtaken by Altima. Malibu, however, is up over 50% YTD which I must admit has surprised me.

On the other hand, Chevy division is within 10,000 vehicles of overtaking Ford. If only they had a car that could sell a measly 40,000 units per year to close the gap ...

 

First....there are a TON of new cars and trucks in the Chevy pipeline. (I just had a meeting with all of our marketing and product managers..and my mind is spinning as to how we'll showcase these in the major autoshows over the next 3 years.....)

Second......Chevy sold nearly 400,000 more cars and trucks in 2004 than in 2003....and may just outsell Ford this year.....
(that said, I'm more worried about Toyota....)

Now...some are going to wail "but you GAVE them away"..and to those I say "look at the transaction price"

Further, we chose to put the money on the hood...rather than in the trunk (dealer incentives) We do need to..and are..repricing many vehicles. But...keep in mind that rebates CAN be good for some of you...if you're upside down in your current car or truck, the rebate allows you to get into a new vehicle.

We don't do everything right...but the news would have you believe that everything is horrible.

I don't mean to minimalize the problems GM faces....(the Zarella administration, in my opinion, did grave damage...and we'll be paying for it for the next several years)....but Chevy and Cadillac are doing very well.

Don't count Chevy dead just yet.

 

I'm certainly glad to see Chevy come close to, and maybe overtake Ford. But IMO it would be a hollow victory. Why? Because of the demise of Olds. Back 20 years ago when Chevy last outsold Ford, Olds was also selling a lot of cars (in the neighbourhood of 700,000, IIRC). Now that there's no Olds, a lot of buyers who would've found themselves in an Olds showroom are now finding themselves in a Chevrolet showroom. So to a certain extent, it's now like Chevy + Olds taking on Ford division.

 

If Chevy gets a larger RWD sedan to compete with the Charger/300, then I don't think that they a large FWD sedan like the existing Impala. Too much overlap, and GM would only hurt themselves by competing with themselves.

 

I always thought olds = buick and that people that would have bought olds would now buy buick.

But it a hallow victory. Ford isn't doing too well, and they've cut production, and are having problems of their own. Especially their relatively weak car line which are selling below expectations with the exception being Mustang. That and they've cut incentives a great deal, more so than chevy (compare incentive model to model to get a good idea). So Ford isn't exactly the Ford from 10 or so years back. Imo, they are facing many of the same problems chevy's facing. So beating out Ford really means little. But it is good that Chevy is doing better than now say 2 or 3 years back, now that is a sort of victory .

Now Toyota, that's one division to be worried about. They are creeping up, and they are creeping up VERY quickly. Chevy and Ford will need the help and strength of their new products to fend them (Toyota and raising imports in general) off.

 

Malibu sales are going crazy You can check out their sale data here http://www.gm.com/company/investor_i...on/sales_prod/

'06 Malibu SS is a nice improvement

 

Good to see you're still around Red! Always a pleasure to hear from you. I do not doubt that Chevy has great stuff coming. The Cobalt alone has driven that point home. Last I heard, Lordstown was rolling at full capacity because of how well they're selling (I think Darth mentioned it, I could be wrong though....)



I was beginning to think your posts lately were actually worth reading redzed. Im guessing you missed the part "..even though Im not a huge fan of it". My point was, the little bugger is selling, and its surprising me a ton that it is.

Now thats a front end I can live with on the Malibu. Looks much cleaner without that spear. Question though, is that gonna be just the SS model, or is the entire 06 model line gonna have that front and rear treatment?