Chevrolet is looking to fill the gap in Europe as its closest rivals move upmarket, the new regional head Thomas Sedran said.
Chevrolet, which Sedran told AFP was the “fourth biggest brand on the planet” with close to 5m sales globally, was only launched in Europe in 2005 and has sold 1.5m vehicles since then.
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It suffers from “comparatively low brand-awareness” in the region, Sedran told the news agency in Frankfurt.
“Unaided brand awareness is in the single digits,” he said.
Chevrolet’s closest competitors were the South Korean groups Hyundai and Kia and Skoda, the Czech arm of European giant Volkswagen.
“When I look at the content and pricing of Hyundai and Kia, it feels like they’re trying to move up. And I think this is where there is also additional opportunity for us,” Sedran said.
“I think there’s a significantly growing market of customers who are looking for cars priced at 10-15% below classical mainstream,” such as Chevrolet’s sister brand within the GM group, Opel.
“In terms of pricing, we are there today already,” Sedran said. “There’s nothing wrong with cheap and cheerful.”
Sedran said that Chevrolet does not disclose profit figures for its European operations and he declined to say whether the unit was making a loss.
“We working to be more profitable, to improve our profitability,” he insisted.
“We had a good July and a better August. In August, we went back to 1.5% market share. But one swallow does not make a summer. It’s one month. I wouldn’t overemphasise that,” Sedran said.
Asked about the European market as a whole, Sedran said: “I would say we are very cautious. In our business planning we don’t expect the European market to come back soon.”
Sedran, a former board member at Opel, was appointed head of Chevrolet Europe in July.
