Chevrolet took the IAA 2011 in Frankfurt as an opportunity to celebrate its 100th birthday. Louis Chevrolet, a Swiss, born in La Chaux-deFonds in 1878, emigrated to America and in 1911, together with William Durant, founded the automobile company named after him. He wanted to build a competitor to the famous Ford Model T.
Chevrolet's focus on the masses made the American automobile brand a production millionaire as early as 1922. Up until this year, more than a million vehicles had rolled off the production line in the USA. Chevrolet's global focus was also a tradition. Between the 20s and 30s alone, Chevrolet opened many factories in Europe. It was produced in Berlin, Copenhagen and in Biel, Switzerland.
As early as the 70s, Chevrolet was one of the first to follow the trend towards smaller vehicles, also due to the onset of the oil crisis. Many small cars from Chevrolet were significantly smaller than the vehicles of the competition and were correspondingly more economical.
The Corvette is still the most successful American sports car. It was followed by many other well-known and popular vehicles from the successful American brand. Including the Camaro as an answer to the Ford Mustang. This muscle car alone was sold a total of five million times. And Chevrolet showed that it was a consistently innovative brand by installing a car radio as standard. Other success stories included the introduction of the first turbo engine and the first fully automatic transmission.
Up to now, Chevrolet has undergone many changes and innovations in company policy. Small cars like the Chevrolet Aveo and the compact sedan Cruze are currently contributing to Chevrolet selling around 500.000 cars a year in Europe alone.
Chevrolet is celebrating the anniversary year 2011 with a major model offensive and introducing many new models. The Chevrolet Volt, which has already received numerous awards, is leading the brand dynamically into the second century and is expanding the product range with a future-oriented electric vehicle.
Image source: chevrolet.de
