Chevrolet is more than meeting sales benchmarks in its Eastern European market, but not with models developed in the United States. After General Motors purchased South Korean automaker Daewoo in 2001 – created GM Daewoo – Daewoo-designed vehicles started popping up across the world with Chevrolet badges.
U.S. buyers might recognize the Suzuki Forenza and Reno, both of which are rebadged Daewoos. Then again, they might not, as neither vehicle is a common sight on U.S. roads. But the Chevrolet Aveo is an increasingly common car – it’s a GM Daewoo product built in South Korea. In addition to the Aveo, Canadians get an even closer taste of these South Korean Chevrolets: the Chevrolet Optra 5-door and wagon, sold down south as the Suzuki Reno, are GM Daewoo products.
The Detroit News’ European automotive correspondent, Neil Winton, points out that GM Daewoo’s Chevrolet -branded products are selling particularly well in Eastern Europe, despite Chevrolet’s (and parent brand GM’s) difficulties in the United States. Poland, Ukraine and Russia are three of Chevrolet’s biggest markets in Europe. With the exception of the Aveo, the product portfolio is filled with names unknown to North American buyers: Spark, Lacetti, Rezzo, Epica, Captiva, Matiz, Kalos (shown), and more.
But even some Western Europe countries are seeing success with the Chevrolet brand: the traditionally fickle Italian market is buying lots of Chevrolets because they’re cheap and small – well suited to urban Italian streets. Spain, too, is buying lots of Chevrolets.
Chevrolet sold more than 300,000 cars last year in Europe and they’re on track to hit 500,000 in just four years, according to a consultant group, making the brand an important player overseas.
But Chevrolet is hardly GM’s only brand in Europe: Opel (Vauxhall in the U.K.) has long been the General’s flagship brand in Europe. But GM is finally seeing the potential of Opel’s products selling the United States: the brand new Saturn Vue is essentially a rebadged Opel Antara and the upcoming Saturn Astra is even more identical to the Opel Astra.
As a whole, GM Europe hit an all-time record for first-half sales this year: 1,127,871 cars, a hefty 2.1 percent increase over the same period in ’06 – itself a strong half-year. But that figure isn’t as clean as it might seem. GM Europe saw decreases in Saab , Corvette and Hummer sales (Corvette and Hummer are marketed as unique brands in Europe), and only a marginal (0.8 percent) increase in Opel/Vauxhall sales. The big player was Chevrolet, with an additional 54,509 cars sold in the six-month period, a 33.9 percent increase.
