The 2014 Chevrolet Silverado at its December debut.
It’s often a matter of perspective, certainly so when it comes to Chevrolet’s 2012 global sales. The maker set an all-time record – but that still wasn’t enough to prevent another slide in its market share, General Motors’ largest brand confirmed today.
Chevy sales totaled an all-time high of 4.95 million last year, up 2.9%, with the brand gaining volume in a number of key markets including China and Europe, as well as the United States. The home market accounted for 1.85 million of those vehicles – meaning the brand that has traditionally billed itself as an American icon actually generated more than 60% of its volume abroad, much of that in emerging markets.
Brazil was Chevrolet’s largest source of sales outside the States, at 643,00 last year, followed close behind by China, at 627,000. Russia was a distant fourth, at 205,000, followed by Mexico, where Chevy rang up 179,000 sales.
The maker’s compact Cruze model was its best-seller, single-handedly generating 755,000 of those global sales.
But new entries, such as the Sonic, the latest-generation Malibu and Colorado pickup have been responsible for much of last year’s added sales.
All told, Chevrolet generated about 55% of GM’s total 2012 volume of 9.2 million vehicles worldwide. The maker saw a 3.2% increase in North America and a 10.1% gain overseas.
But that wasn’t enough to offset the competition, especially in North America, where industry sales posted a double-digit gain last year, reaching the highest level since before the deep recession began. Market share at home tumbled by 1.5 points, to 16.9%. Worldwide, GM’s share slipped by four-tenths of a point, to 11.5%.
Meanwhile, GM lost the tenuous hold it had as global sales leader in 2011, apparently slipping to second, behind Toyota, and likely just ahead of its increasingly ambitious German rival Volkswagen AG.
During a meeting with reporters last week, GM CEO Dan Akerson said he is confident the company can achieve a “modest share increase” in 2013. He also expressed his expectation that the U.S. market will grow from last year’s new vehicle sales of 14.5 million to somewhere between 15.0 million and 15.5 million in the new year.
A new survey by consulting firm KPMG found leading industry executives also cautiously upbeat about GM’s chances of gaining some business back.
“Executive confidence behind GM saw a boost in the 2013 KPMG survey, with 44% (of those surveyed) predicting market share gains in the next five years, up from 40% in 2011, and just 13% in 2010,” Gary Silberg, KPMG’s national automotive industry leader.
“Investments in new products and production innovation,” he said, “clearly…have helped.”
This will be a significant year for Chevrolet which last month unveiled its completely redesigned Silverado pickup. It is also showing off the all-new 2014 remake of the Corvette sports car at this week’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit. A remake of the big Impala sedan also is set to reach Chevy showrooms in the coming months.
“Chevrolet is in the midst of the most aggressive rollout of new products in its history, which helped us deliver our ninth-consecutive quarter of record global sales,” said Don Johnson, Chevrolet vice president of U.S. sales and service.
The giant brand is still looking for the right formula to get its message across to consumers, however. It has struggled with a variety of ad campaigns, and is now launching a new tagline, “Find New Roads,” to replace the less-than-stellar theme, “Chevy Runs Deep.”