On the odd chance you haven’t noticed yet, Chevrolet is celebrating its 100th anniversary in the industry this year, and doing so in fine fashion: The Bow-tie brand has rung up about 3.6 million global sales through the first three quarters of 2011, which puts it on pace for a record-setting year. And it’s especially notable that Chevy’s performance in this country has been a key component in its overall numbers.
Chevrolet’s U.S. sales were up 21.5 percent in September, pushing the brand to a 15.2 percent increase on a year-to-date basis. They’re the good kind of sales, too, with retail deliveries increasing 21.3 percent last month and 22.6 percent through September, and the early forecast for October sales calls for more of the same. Leading the way has been the Chevrolet Cruze. Barring some sort of unexpected disaster, the car is going to finish the year with over 200,000 sales, more than double the number achieved last year by the Cruze’s predecessor, the Chevy Cobalt.
Somewhat more quietly, the Chevy Equinox also is putting up the best sales marks in its career. The ’Nox notched just shy of 150k deliveries in setting a record in 2010, and it was resting at 145,035 sales headed into October.
But as important as the Cruze and Equinox have been to Chevy’s fortunes this year, the brand wouldn’t be in the position it’s in now if it weren’t for the yeoman work done by some of its less buzzed-about players. Like the five mentioned here.
Chevy Silverado: How can a vehicle that’s likely to crack the 400,000-sales mark this year be called an underdog? Only when it’s selling against a rival that topped that number three full months before the year ended—the Ford F-150. The incredible segment dominance of the F-150, combined with a notable sales renaissance for Ram in recent months, has meant a very quiet year for the Silverado, at least in terms of buzz. For example, at the 2011 Texas Truck Rodeo—often held up as a bellwether for pickup performance—Ford and Ram took the top two spots in all three of the full-size pickup segments. Now, it’s possible the Silverado really is the third-best entry in its class, but since it’s outgrowing the Ford and outselling the Ram, I’ve got my doubts.
Chevrolet Impala: A fixture on the lower part of the monthly top-20 best-seller list, the Impala appears to be a lock to finish the year with more than 170,000 sales, which is right around the same level as the all-new VW Jetta. And while the vast majority of those Impalas are going to fleet buyers—and are thus less profitable for the company and less appealing to retail customers—the big sedan deserves props for “protecting” other Chevy vehicles from that problem. Consider: If there weren’t a Chevy Impala available, fleet buyers looking for Chevy cars would undoubtedly turn to vehicles like the Chevrolet Malibu and Cruze, and its products like the latter two, specifically aimed at gaining high volumes on the retail side, that need to be inoculated against commercial sales. This basic strategy of offering fleet-specific products to reap the volume benefits offered by commercial customers, while maintaining a core lineup of different models for the different conditions of the retail market, is a Chevy trend to watch. (See also the Chevy Captiva and Chevy Caprice police car.)
Chevrolet Corvette: With all apologies to the Nissan GT-R, the Corvette remains the only supercar on the market today from a high-volume brand—which is both its blessing and its curse. From just about any other make except for Chevy, a car that can run with a Ferrari 458, yet also run some $100,000 less in terms of MSRP, would be considered an amazing achievement. Yet that mix of high performance and (relatively) low price has been the ’Vette’s précis almost since its inception, and all most critics still talk about is its shoddy-looking interior, which, at this stage, isn’t all that shoddy. On the other hand, it’s possible things could be beginning to change, although not in the typical automotive fashion. Usually, it’s a halo car like the Corvette that brings an added aura of appeal to the rest of a brand’s lineup; with Chevy, it could be the shift upstream of the rest of its roster—especially the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu—that helps reset opinions for the Corvette.
Chevy Express: Much as is the case in the full-size pickup segment, a Ford model dominates the full-size van category, with a Chevrolet product a distant second—but, also much as is the case with the trucks, it’s the Express that’s reaping the serious sales gain. The Ford E-Series vans nudged ahead by 2.8 percent in September, and have moved the needle northward by 7.4 percent through the first three quarters of the year, the comparable numbers for the Express are 44.4 percent and 18.9 percent. And while the commercial-van market isn’t as sexy as that for the big pickups, it is seeing some surprising levels of growth in both sales and competition. The suddenly very crowded field now includes the relatively new Ford Transit Connect, a resurgent Sprinter, and this year’s Nissan NV and Ram Cargo Van, and the Blue Oval recently confirmed a bigger Ford Transit is on the way—at the same time it announced production of the E-Series also will continue (to some extent). That’s a lot of action, and the Express is more than holding its own here.
Chevy Tahoe: The General’s decision to stay the course with its body-on-frame SUVs is proving to have been a good one, and the Tahoe is leading the way. Sales of the Tahoe approached the 9,000-unit mark in September—Chevy sold 8,813, to be exact—and that not only topped the performance of all other body-on-frame SUVs, but also such crossovers as the Toyota RAV4, Toyota Highlander, Nissan Murano, Hyundai Santa Fe, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Subaru Forester and a passel of GM soft-roaders, including the Chevy Traverse, Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia, and GMC Terrain. When you also take into account sales of the Tahoe’s big brother, the Chevy Suburban, the Bow-tie’s body-on-frame pair will combine for more than 100,000 sales by the time the October results are calculated.
