Chevy’s chase for sales is over

FORMER GM Holden managing director and now vice-president of Chevrolet sales and service in the US, Alan Batey, has backpedalled on a decree that the brand for which he is now responsible should no longer be referred to as ‘Chevy’.

Roundly criticised in America and elsewhere, the ruling was set out in a memo to Chevrolet employees promoting the importance of “consistency” for the brand, which, if it succeeded, would wipe out a product nickname steeped in popular culture and widely recognised throughout the world.

Waving bye-bye to Miss American Pie and arguing that General Motors was attempting to prevent people from ever again driving their Chevy to the levee, The New York Times revealed that the memo requested Chevrolet staff stop using the nickname because a consistent use of ‘Chevrolet’ would make it “more prominent and recognisable” with the buying public.

The memo was signed by Mr Batey and Chevrolet’s marketing vice-president Jim Campbell, and later confirmed by a GM spokesperson as authentic.

The memo said: “We’d ask that whether you’re talking to a dealer, reviewing dealer advertising, or speaking with friends and family, that you communicate our brand as Chevrolet moving forward.

“When you look at the most recognised brands throughout the world, such as Coke or Apple for instance, one of the things they all focus on is the consistency of their branding.

“Why is this consistency so important? The more consistent a brand becomes, the more prominent and recognisable it is with the consumer.”

Left: Alan Batey

There was no acknowledgement that ‘Coke’ is in fact a nickname for Coca-Cola, and, as the NY Times points out, Apple is not commonly used in reference to its products, which are known simply as iPads, iPhones and MacBooks.

KFC and FedEx were also cited as examples of a global trend to make corporate names more casual.

At the time of writing, ‘Chevy’ was still used throughout Chevrolet’s US website and its homepage had a prominent headline that ‘Over 1,000 people a day switch to Chevy’.

The furore prompted GM to issue a statement that said the “emotional debate over a poorly worded memo” was a reminder of how passionately people feel about the Chevrolet brand, and that the company was not discouraging “customers or fans” from using the name ‘Chevy’.

It did not, however, retract its request for employees to stop using the nickname.

“We love Chevy. In no way are we discouraging customers or fans from using the name. We deeply appreciate the emotional connections that millions of people have for Chevrolet and its products,” the statement said.

“In global markets, we are establishing a significant presence for Chevrolet, and need to move toward a consistent brand name for advertising and marketing purposes. The memo in question was one step in that process.

“We hope people around the world will continue to fall in love with Chevrolets and smile when they call their favourite car, truck or crossover ‘Chevy’.”

Mr Batey later responded personally, arguing: “Let’s put it into context. Chevrolet is one of the fastest-growing brands in the world today. We’re selling now in over 130 countries.

“For every vehicle we sell here in the US, we are actually selling two vehicles overseas. So we are really on a great momentum and a great march.

“But it is also true to say that Chevrolet is at an early stage of development in many of these markets, so the ability for us to use our Chevrolet brand name, as we do on all of vehicles, in all of our dealerships, in all of those countries, this gives us the ability in this global world we live in today to get the maximum amount of leverage.

“And that’s really all it’s about.”