Chevrolet hits sale record in 2011

With its 100th birthday behind it, Chevrolet is on pace to set an all-time global sale record in 2011, having sold 4.8 million units through the end of November, a company official said. Chevrolet's market share around the world has increased by nearly one half of a point this year, as it also steadily advances a goal of becoming a global brand, according to Russ Clark, Chevrolet's marketing manager for mid-sized and performance cars, in a recent interview. Sixty percent of all Chevrolet are now sold outside the United States, which has long been the primary market for General Motors for most of the past century, Clark said. Only this year, Chevrolet began selling cars in South Korea and Vietnam for the first time. "A Chevrolet is sold somewhere in the world every 6.6 seconds," Clark added, as the company's top 10 markets now include China, Russia, Uzbekistan, and India. One in five Chevrolets are sold in Latin America, where it the number-one brand with a market share of 18.7 percent, while Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Columbia are all now important markets for Chevrolet products from passenger cars to trucks and sport utility vehicles. Despite General Motors' push to make Chevrolet a truly global brand with the same world-wide reach as Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen, Chevy has not halted its effort in the United States: Chevrolet is the second place US brand with 13.7 percent market share, placing it just behind arch-rival Ford. But it has gained one-full point of market share thanks it having posted 15 consecutive months of sales gain, as it appears to be on the verge of 16th monthly sales gain in December, Clark said. Sales of Chevrolet passenger cars have meanwhile climbed 34 percent in recent months thanks to the overhaul of its passenger cars. The Chevrolet Cruze was the best selling compact car in the US, while sales of the Malibu have surpassed those of 2010. Both the Corvette and Camaro, which has bested Mustang for the second year in a row, are now tops in their respective segments, Clark noted, while the all-new subcompact Chevrolet Sonic is turning so fast dealers have only a 17-day supply on their lots. The Malibu, the longest longest running nameplate in the Chevrolet line, has been completely revamped for 2012 to make it more competitive in the hotly contested mid-sized segment, where it is expected to challenge the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord as well as the new Volkswagen Passat.