Chevrolet has long been General Motors’ volume brand, but according to brand chief Brent Dewar, the division that has brought to market everything from the iconic ’57 Bel Air to the thrifty Metro, could make up 70 percent of the automaker’s North American sales.
The division is “going to take on a larger role as we go from eight brands to four,” Dewar said in an interview with Automotive News on Friday. “Here in North America we are going to be responsible for 70 percent of volumes.”
As GM’s volume brand, Chevrolet inevitably will pick up a share in the automaker’s market as it pares the North American sales market down from eight brands to just four.
“As Pontiac goes away, Saturn goes away, Chevrolet has to step up. That’s clear,” Dewar said. “The 70 percent target is the right kind of number we need to work on.”
Chevy has accounted for 60 percent of GM’s North American sales so far in 2009 – up from 54 percent in 2002. It has been helped not only by a generally fresh product lineup headlined by the Traverse and Equinox crossovers, but the massive decline in Saturn sales. Pontiac, buoyed by hot demand for the discontinued G8 and hefty fleet sales of the G6, has not seen as large a reduction in overall sales.
