Winning European Car of the Year with the Volt/Ampera “is a really big deal”, according to Chevrolet Europe chief Susan Docherty.
The winner was announced in Geneva on Monday afternoon.
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“Watching the numbers country by country we thought wow! we could win this,” she said at the show.
But the votes were close until there were just two countries left and “we knew we had a big enough margin to win,” she said. In second place was the Volkswagen Up.
She describes the Volt, currently going on sale across Europe, as a “game changer … our moon shot.”
Volt production had been cut back for five weeks in Detroit, she said, to match production to demand and allow for modifications to the battery installation to prevent any risk of post-crash fires.
Total Volt sales in the US last year were 7,700 but she noted that, until November, the car was on sale only in four or five states.
“It’s a technological marvel and will do well,” she said.
She also thinks that the Cruze will do well in Europe now that a wagon version – which made its debut at the show – is available. Some 21% of sales in the Cruze segment are wagons.
“We now have a full Cruze line-up,” she said, noting that last year supplies of diesel engines were restricted because of Asia’s natural disasters.
A full engine line will allow Chevrolet to increase sales and market share month by month, she said, adding that, in Europe, Chevrolet’s market share had grown from 1.24% last year to 1.49% in the first two months of this year despite the overall market shrinking by 10%.
