Chevrolet Case
Case Recap
General Motors Company was established in Europe 1911. It was one of the largest global regional markets for General Motors Company as a whole. In fact, about one fifth of the entire company’s unit sales come from sales in Europe. GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Company, commonly referred to as GM DAT, was formed in the fall of 2002. This resulted in eleven production facilities in eight different European countries. Sales jumped to $27.5 billion in 2003 compared to sales of $23.9 billion in 2002.
The Chevrolet brand started out as a bicycle shop in 1901 that was created by a man name Louis Chevrolet. In 1909, the passenger car came into design and its main focus of competition was the Ford Motor Company. In 1911, the Chevrolet Motor Car Company was formed and the debut of the iconic Chevrolet bowtie came about in 1914. Chevrolet made its way into Europe and was an unrecognizable name. In the beginning of 2004, only one percent of car buyers in Europe heard of the brand.
Daewoo Brand, was created by Daewoo Motor Company in Korea, was introduced into the European mart in 1994. Daewoo Matiz, classified as a city car as well as a micro van, is among the top three in sales in Europe. However, in 1999 Daewoo Motor Company found themselves with a large debt burden and declared bankruptcy. That resulted in a slowing of the drive the company was experiencing in not only Europe, but other markets as well. Sales took a dip in 2001 and 2002. This turned around. Sales increased when GM acquired Daewoo and became GM DAT. However, Daewoo was still being plagued with the image of being a cheap imported product, preventing the company from obtaining customers outside of blue collar workers.
Problem Identification
General Motors specifically created a group named The Project Midas Group to introduce cars into the European market. Focus is on the marketing approach that will take on the transition of GM Daewoo Europe models over to the Chevrolet brand. The Project Midas Group is not able to change the Daewoo products, models, characteristics, manufacturer’s suggested retail pricing, dealer practices, or distribution. Along with following those guidelines, the group must also concentrate on increasing sales of the existing product line. A product line that has seen struggles on some of the models over the years.
General Motors is a parent company of Chevrolet. Both companies have an outstanding internationally following, with the exception of the Chevrolet name in European countries. The company itself has been around for many years thus providing the organization with stability, marketing techniques, and expertise in the industry. The issue for Chevrolet is the lack of branding in Europe, as well as models outside of the Matiz. The Matiz is a top seller. However, many of the other models in the lineup are often considered cheap in quality,