Recently an internal memo was leaked to the press from Chevy marketing executives to their employees. It told/asked them to stop using the popular ‘diminutive’ term ‘Chevy’ for it’s famous Chevrolet brand. This new marketing division wants to delete the term Chevy from its company. All this in the hopes of re-branding this famously trusted auto line.

Car owners have intimate relationships with their cars, not formal ones. We naturally give nicknames to things we commonly love and rely on, so why take this intimate relationship to such a formal level? We use Caddy for Cadillac, Beemer for BMW, Mercedes Benz is just Benz, and Volkswagen is a VW, and I admit the term ‘Chevy’ just sounds cool, don’t you agree? I’ve loved the Chevy brand since their fleet of Corvette and Camaro muscle cars hit the road back in the 70s.

Chevrolet was founded back in 1911, and has grown into a global brand which has sales upwards of 3 million cars in 130 countries. Arguably up to this point, all of which were regularly referred to as Chevy. According to a popular automotive magazine the name ‘Chevy’ appears over 1700 times on General Motors and Chevrolet’s web pages. So this attempt to re brand will be no small undertaking.

Of course, debate started almost immediately over this poorly worded memo. A debate which echoes the ‘New Coke’ debate of the 1980’s, why change what works? Apparently Chevrolet was flattered by all of the chatter and hoopla stirred up. A response memo was sent out by Chevrolet to explain the reason this seemed a worthy objective, it stated “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. 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 Chevrolet and smile when they call their favorite car, truck or crossover “Chevy”. The memo went on to say that Chevrolet hopes the global markets will learn to love the ‘Chevy’ as much as Americans have.

So, as far as I can make out, Chevrolet being one of the fastest growing automotive brands globally, plans to use only the name Chevrolet in all internal and external communications. What does this mean to us in North America? I don’t think Chevrolet will even bother with us. We are already branded to the name ‘Chevy’ so there won’t be much in the way of change. I can only hope that the term ‘Chevy’ shows up in an advertisement in Jaipur or Dubai as well as here in North America. In my opinion, if they must, use Chevrolet for the business upfront and ‘Chevy’ for the party out back. Miss those mullets too.

Author Bio: Visit http://www.harrisauto.ca for new vehicles and used vehicles and auto financing.

Category: Automotive
Keywords: new cars,new trucks,used cars,used trucks,auto finance