Chevrolet expects momentum from its new models this year to carry into 2013, when it will release 13 new or updated models.
DETROIT, MI- Chevrolet expects to drive momentum from this year into 2013 with a barrage of vehicle launches.
General Motors Co.’s largest brand plans to release 13 all-new or significantly updated vehicles next year, according to Michael Albano, Chevrolet head of communications.
“You can take our entire lineup and put it against anyone else’s right now,” Albano said during a media event Wednesday at the Renaissance Center in Detroit.
The already announced new or updated models for next year include the Traverse and Equinox crossover sport utility vehicles, Sonic RS subcompact, Impala full-size sedan, Cruze diesel, all-electric Spark and SS rear-wheel drive performance sedan, along with most of its lineup of trucks and SUVs.
Led primarily by its global passenger car vehicles, officials say, Chevrolet car sales are up 11 percent through September of this year compared to last year. Overall, U.S. sales for the brand are up about 5 percent to 1.42 million vehicles through last month.
“We’ve really worked hard to get this core group of global vehicles in place,” Albano said. “We’re really forming this nice core group of global vehicles.”
The Cruze is Chevrolet’s best-selling nameplate worldwide, according to Cristi Landy, Chevrolet marketing director of Chevy small car marketing. Since its launch, GM has sold more than 1.6 million Cruze models, including around 500,000 this year.
Landy said the Spark minicar and Sonic have also helped its car sales and customer consideration jump domestically.
GM's U.S. car sales last month rose 29 percent compared to September 2011, a month that has historically been better for larger vehicles.
"When we look at our Chevy car consideration and we go back to 2010 to now, what we're seeing is a 63 percent increase in people saying, 'I would definitely consider a Chevrolet,'" she said.
Chevrolet currently is in the midst of rolling out another version of its new 2013 Malibu, followed by one of its arguably most-anticipated vehicles, the 2014 Impala.
Impala sales are currently about two-thirds fleet and one-third retail, according to Jon Hahn, marketing manager for the Impala and Malibu, who said the goal is to flip those percentages.
“As we’ve seen with many of our new vehicle launches, opportunity to kind of realign and control that fleet-retail mix,” he said. “We’ve been very successful at it.”
When the 2014 Impala is released in the first-quarter of 2013, the oldest passenger vehicle in the Chevrolet lineup will be the Cruze, which was last redesigned for the 2011 model year.
Amid rumors and reports, one vehicles GM has not released information about redesigning is the brand's oldest car: the Corvette, which was last updated for the 2008 model year.