The new new Chevrolet — or — GM is just kidding us!

About a year ago I made several posts recommending that GM retire the GM brand and rename the whole group as The Chevrolet Group.

My reasoning was that Chevrolet was a very storied brand, started by the Chevrolet brothers who were well-known race car drivers.  Right there was the heritage of a high performance company, with the humanity of the Chevrolet brothers as part of the folklore!  And the diminutive of Chevrolet, the Chevy, has become part of American culture.  Just think of Bruce Springsteen’s Racing in the Street (“I’ve got a ’57 Chevy with a 396…”).  [Note to NY Times — how could you leave out Springsteen but include Motley Crue?]

Of course GM is still GM.

But Chevrolet is only Chevrolet — it has lost the Chevy!  Or maybe not.  If you saw the front page story in yesterday’s New York Times you know that the company wants to drop their nickname, Chevy.  G.M. Proposes Leaving a Car’s Popular Nickname in the Dust – NYTimes.com

Now today GM has come out to say, just kidding folks!  According to the Times:

In an interview by phone, Mr. Batey [VP of Sales] called the memo “a rough draft” and “a bit of fun.”

G.M. Backtracks on Chevy Memo – NYTimes.com

You can also check out the GM Facebook page to see how they are handling this bit of news.

So here’s my strategic recommendation.  Move forward with calling the entire company The Chevrolet Group.  Drop the GM name.  As the name for the overall company, Chevrolet is terrific.  And within the Chevrolet division, well…why mess with a good Chevy?

Introducing the New Chevrolet Corporation on June 1st!

It takes more than one Indianapolis 500 car driver and builder to create a great automobile company.  In fact it takes three.  Arthur, Louis and Gaston Chevrolet where all experienced Indy 500 car builders and drivers.  And they built the Chevrolet Company.

These three brothers had a motto “Never Give Up”  And they didn’t.  

That is why on June 1st GM is making an official announcement that the company is being renamed The Chevrolet Corporation.  The unofficial motto of the company is “Never Give Up”.  And the winning tradition of the Chevrolet brothers is spreading across the company.  Several sources have said that market research showed the faceless GM brand never had strong emotional connections with any of its audiences — not even internally.  Despite several efforts to re-brand GM, the new management has recognized the importance of the Chevrolet brand and heritage.  One executive who asked to remain anonymous said, “The American people feel much better about bailing out The Chevrolet Corporation than they do about bailing out GM”

Okay, so maybe this is just my imagination running away with me.  One can imagine a brighter future, can’t they?  

After all, it makes sense on so many levels to make this change.  The Chevrolet Corporate has all of the elements of a great narrative.  

And if GM is reading this, I would be happy to come out to the Renaissance Center and go through the reasoning and implications.  I’ll even pay for my own ticket.