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Business
GM Sweeps Awards; Corvette Orders Sold Out
Sweep Gives Auto Maker Marketing Boost as it Pushes Chevrolet Brand Around World
By
Jeff Bennett
Jan. 13, 2014 9:20 a.m. ET

General Motors Co. 's sweep at the North America car and truck of the year awards will likely give the auto maker a marketing boost as it pushes its plan to build the Chevrolet brand around the world.

The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck took the coveted wins announced Monday at the opening of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The last year GM notched a two-vehicle sweep was in 2007.

"I have been on record that we have acknowledged Chevrolet's brand health is now where it needs to be," Chevrolet global chief Alan Batey said shortly after the awards were announced. "This, however, externally reinforces to the public that Chevrolet, as well as Cadillac and Buick, are on the move. It really is a great way to start the year."

Currently, every Corvette now in production has been sold, Mr. Batey said.

GM is looking for some momentum as it heads into 2014 a relatively clean company, free from government ownership and with a new chief executive at the helm. Mary Barra steps into her new role Wednesday, becoming the first female to head a global auto maker.

"I am proud of the global product development team," Ms. Barra said. "It is so significant to win...as we launch the new Chevrolet Silverado and Corvette. I hope people who haven't considered General Motors and Chevrolet get into the showroom. I am confident as they get into the showroom they will like what they see."

Write to Jeff Bennett at jeff.bennett@wsj.com

ByByBMW

My local dealers (2) have 8 C7's for sale.

locoracer83

I defer to industry experts for proper definitions, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that manufacturers do produce vehicles that were/are not "pre-ordered" by either a dealer or a retail customer. Manufacturers do maintain days of inventory for a variety of reasons, both for product reasons and production efficiencies/costs. They get skittish when such levels rise, but I think most do it. If you really want to get hyper technical, the dealer's floor-plan lender owns their stock until they sell the car. So, unless someone paid cash, every C7 out there is bank collateral until the MSO or title changes hands.

Short story, if he says all are sold he is saying everything on the line is leaving BG with an intended home before it ever comes off the line. That does not happen often and speaks volumes about the desirability of the 2014 Stingray.

colo63sw

[QUOTE=sotirisf;1585905351]Business
GM Sweeps Awards; Corvette Orders Sold Out
Sweep Gives Auto Maker Marketing Boost as it Pushes Chevrolet Brand Around World
By
Jeff Bennett
Jan. 13, 2014 9:20 a.m. ET

General Motors Co. 's sweep at the North America car and truck of the year awards will likely give the auto maker a marketing boost as it pushes its plan to build the Chevrolet brand around the world.

The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck took the coveted wins announced Monday at the opening of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The last year GM notched a two-vehicle sweep was in 2007.

"I have been on record that we have acknowledged Chevrolet's brand health is now where it needs to be," Chevrolet global chief Alan Batey said shortly after the awards were announced. "This, however, externally reinforces to the public that Chevrolet, as well as Cadillac and Buick, are on the move. It really is a great way to start the year."

Currently, every Corvette now in production has been sold, Mr. Batey said.
QUOTE]

I think there is a lot of wiggle room with that statement. It could mean everything on the production line today. With several months of production to go there could be many unsold vettes by the end of the production year.
When a salesman opens his mouth, consider every word carefully.

vettelover69

GM is sold out on C7's? I didn't know they were doing a limited number of Corvettes this time around.

asphaltrecycler

Really?....Ever fly in and outa DTW? Ever see those fields of Chrysler products sitting there? Think those are rentals waiting to go in the fleets? Guess again...Surplus production. This has been covered 1000 times in this forum. More times than not (far more in the past) it was less expensive to keep the lines producing and build excess then shut them down.
He is 100% correct in saying every unit is "sold"..Every one is a dealer (inventory or stock) created order. It is a bit of a marketing stretch but it got everyones attention.
Btw..If they were in fact all sold, then why does Kerbeck have 50 units on the ground?

LIE2ME

amen...

Dave@Ciocca

It says right there that all cars are sold to dealers. That doesn't mean that dealers have them sold yet. In the past if the assembly line has to make X amount of cars and they are not taken then they need to move them.

This statement simply means that dealers are not turning away orders.

Dave

Carnut12

Look at the Competition it went against, pretty stupid Awards.

The C7 deserves it regardless, but the GM Truck has not won a comparison yet against the Ram and I would even put the dated Ford ahead of it. They failed on the New GM Truck IMO.