Geo Name to Be Dropped; Cars Will Be Sold as Chevys
Eight years after creating the Geo nameplate to attract import buyers, Chevrolet said Tuesday that it will eliminate the Geo name and start selling its Metros, Prizms and Trackers as Chevys, beginning next fall.
The three Geo vehicles, whose sales through Chevrolet-Geo dealerships are up nearly 8% this year, will continue to be produced in the U.S. and Canada by joint ventures between General Motors and Japanese partners.
The move reflects a turnaround at GM’s Chevrolet division in the last few years. Chevy has revamped its lineup and argues that it can compete with anyone on quality and styling. It has enjoyed particular success with the new Cavalier small car, which competes well against imports.
“Chevy has been reincarnated and is getting back to the prominence it once held in the 1950s and 1960s,” said Chris Cedergren, an auto consultant in Thousand Oaks.
When GM introduced the Geo brand in 1988, Chevy had a weak lineup of vehicles, especially in small and sporty cars, and was unable to attract young buyers away from Japanese rivals. Geo touted its Japanese ties: Compact Prizms are made in Fremont, Calif., in a joint GM-Toyota venture, and subcompact Metros and small sport-utility Trackers were built by Suzuki with GM in Canada.
Geo has enjoyed modest success. Its vehicles attracted buyers who otherwise wouldn’t have been caught dead inside a Chevy dealership. Geo sales peaked in 1991 at 309,000, including 79,000 Geo Storms, which have since been discontinued. This year, Chevy will sell about 225,000 Geos, equivalent to its record year without the Storm.
The vehicles have been particularly popular in California, where Japanese and German models make up nearly half the passenger car market. Chevy sold more Geo Prizms in California last year than Cavaliers, its best-selling small car nationwide.
Dealers appeared to welcome the elimination of Geo, saying it caused confusion and other problems. Because it was not a separate division, Geo never developed a strong identity with the consumer.
“The people coming through the door don’t ask for a Geo. They ask for a Metro or a Tracker,” said Gerald Seiner, a Chevy-Geo dealer based in Salt Lake City. “We want to give them a Chevy.”
Others said some Geos compete too directly with other Chevy products. “When Cavaliers are hot, the Prizms don’t sell,” said Bret Peterson, general manager of Sullivan Chevy-Geo in Roseville, Calif.
The dropping of the Geo name is part of GM’s efforts under marketing boss Ronald Zarrella to eliminate such product overlap and streamline marketing efforts.
“This is part of our brand management and thinking through how we position our vehicles,” said John Middlebrook, Chevrolet general manager.
