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INTERNATIONAL BURCH UNIVERSITY

MARKETING MANAGEMENT
CASE STUDY: CHEVROLET EUROPE

Presented by: Zeid Hazem


Anisa Topalovic
HISTORY
CHEVROLET was established in 1911 by Louis Chevrolet and Billy Durant, the founder
of General Motors.
Louis Chevrolet had already built up a reputation as a mechanic and race driver, first in his
native Europe and then over in the USA.
In 1907, Louis Chevrolet began driving for Buick, which is where he met future GM founder
Billy Durant.
They formed the Chevrolet Motor Car Company on November 11, 1911.
The “bowtie” logo appeared in 1914.
In Europe, Chevrolet also had production facilities in Denmark, Poland and Switzerland, which
continued operating until 1968. In the latter half of the 20th Century Chevrolet grew as a niche
European brand with imports of the two flagship models, Corvette and Camaro as well as other
Chevrolet vehicles.
At the 2004 Paris Motor Show, Chevrolet announced that it was relaunching the brand across
Europe, basing its headquarters in Zurich, the capital city of founder, Louis Chevrolet's home
country of Switzerland.
General Motors started building Chevrolet brand cars in Denmark in 1923 and Belgium in 1925
before acquiring Vauxhall Motors Ltd. in England (1925) and Opel AG in Germany (1925).
In October 2002, GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Company (GM DAT) was formed. The
assets taken over from Daewoo Motor Company included research, design and engineering
facilities as well as manufacturing facilities in South Korea and Vietnam.
GM Daewoo Europe was then established to coordinate GM Daewoo sales subsidiaries and
marketing in Europe. GM operated 11 production and assembly facilities in eight European
countries in 2003. The company employed about 63,000 people.

GENERAL MOTORS INTRODUCTION TO EUROPE


General Motors took on part ownership and management control of the automobile business and
began marketing the GM Daewoo brand in Europe through GM Daewoo Europe, a wholly
owned subsidiary of GM Daewoo Auto and Technology, with headquarters in Zurich,
Switzerland.
In 2004 the Project Midas group was assembled by Patricia Messer, the director for brand and
marketing at Chevrolet Europe.
Project Midas was the strategy to introduce the General Motors Chevrolet brand of passenger
cars to Europe in 2005.
The team was assigned responsibilities for making the brand conversion from GM Daewoo to
Chevrolet in the European passenger car market.
Based on industry, market and consumer insights accumulated in the months prior to the
meeting, the Project Midas workgroup set out to craft a Chevrolet positioning statement that
would:
1) Resonate with European car buyers,
2) Complement General Motors` multi-brand portfolio in Europe,
3) Be consistent with the global perception of the Chevrolet brand.
Now Europe is the second largest global regional market for General Motors Corporation after
North America. GM in Europe reported net sales and revenues of U.S. $ 27.5 billion in 2003
compared to U.S. $ 23.9 billion in 2002.

CAR MARKET IN EUROPE


Europe is the largest passenger car producer in the world. In 2003, out of the 42 million
passenger cars produced worldwide, 41% were produced in Europe.
About 20 automakers offer more than 50 brands in over 200 models. The most prominent
automakers in Europe are: the Volkswagen group, the Peugeot group, Renault, Ford, General
Motors (Opel/Vauxhall/Saab), Fiat Group, DaimlerChrysler, and BMW.
The largest European automakers have strong national identifications. German brands stand for
quality and technology. French brands stand for innovation and comfort. Italian brands stand for
style, but suspect quality.
Passenger cars are among the most heavily advertised consumer products in Europe. In 2003, an
estimated 5 billion Euros was spent by automakers to advertise their brands. Six automakers
accounted for about 73 % and 70 % of estimated media advertising expenditures in 2002 and
2003 (Peugeot, Volkswagen, Ford, Renault, General Motors, and Fiat).
The European passenger car market is typically described by car size and body type:
- Small cars; city cars or small family cars (ex: Fiat Panda and Opel Corsa)
- Medium size cars; large family cars (ex: Volkswagen Passat and Saab 9-3)
- Executive cars; passenger car larger than a large family car but not a SUV (ex: Mercedes-
Benz S-class and Cadillac CTS)

MARKET SEGMENTATION
The European passenger car market is traditionally segmented on the basis of car owner social
status and value orientation across national boundaries.
Traditional segments:
a) The Upper Conservative Segment
b) The Traditional Mainstream Segment
c) The Traditional Blue Collar Segment
d) The Pragmatic Striver Segment
Mainstream segments:
a) The Social Climber Segment
b) The Conventional Modern/Progressive Modern Mainstream Segment
c) The Counter Culture Segment
Postmodern/Materialistic Segments:
a) The Upper Liberal Segment
b) The Socio-Critical Segment
c) The Postmodern Segment

GM DAEWOO SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGHT OPPORTUNITIES

 Good design-distinctive, yet in line  Japanese brands trading up-leaving


with European tastes room on the lower price end of the
 Great value for money-good equipment market
at low price  Good reputation of Asian service
 Very loyal customer base established by Japanese brands
 Good brand awareness with little  The GM umbrella (GM Daewoo
prejudice Europe)
 Favorable image among those who  “Stealing” market share from European
know the brand value brands-especially from Fiat
(Italy)

WEAKNESSES THREATS

 A limited product range  Erosion of value for the money


 No diesel engines  High level of depreciation associated
 Relatively poor workmanship recently with all Korean brands
 No 0% finance  Bankruptcy weakening the image
 Lack of brand advertising  Transition to GM creating confusion
 Low product awareness beyond Matiz and poor satisfaction record among
 Lack of consistency current customer base
 The lack of any significant marketing
or product development initiatives
since Nov. 2002

THE CHEVROLET BRAND IN EUROPE


The Chevrolet brand was virtually unknown among European car buyers in early 2004. Less than
1% of European car buyers were aware of the Chevrolet brand name and the bowtie logo. While
some of members of the Project Midas group considered it as a positive finding other thought
that European car buyers might believe Chevrolet brand cars “were not for them due to
preconceptions of American cars as gas-guzzling jank tanks”.
GM conducted a cross-national research which identified “expressive value” as a common
perception of the Chevrolet brand. Expressive value manifested itself across national boundaries
in terms of:
Passenger Car Preferences:
- Peace of mind
- Cars that are as robust and reliable as possible
- Practical cars-no excessive “frills”
- Cars that perform well in urban settings, for short distance driving
- Attractive styling
- Friendly dealership personnel
Customer profile:
- Down-to-earth, unpretentious
- Traditional meaning of life
- Broad age range, often middle aged, older people
- Mainly married
- Modest formal education
- Blue-collar, working class
- Free time is essentially devoted to the family and improving the home
- The family is a place of solidarity, mutual help
- No excessive consumer aspiration, no prestige consumption

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