Cities Losing Loaner Beach Vehicles
Chevrolet giveth and Chevrolet taketh away.
Lifeguards from Long Beach to Imperial Beach are scrambling to acquire pickups and sport utility vehicles for beach patrol because Chevy has ended its public relations-steeped program of loaning vehicles for high-profile strand duty.
The automaker announced its decision in December, and eight of the 10 affected cities will lose their vehicles May 10, just before summer season starts.
Chevy says the cities were given ample notice that the program was ending and extended the contracts several times for many cities, “just to give them time to prepare or buy or work something out with somebody else,” a spokeswoman for the automaker said.
Chevy ended its 12-year partnership with Huntington Beach last month. The city has neither replacement vehicles nor found a new sponsor. Of the 20 vehicles, 12 were used by the lifeguards, the rest by beach maintenance workers and a parking enforcement officer.
Surf City lifeguards have temporarily replaced the Chevys by pulling a 1991 Jeep and a ’93 Blazer out of a city storage yard and by renting four Ford F-150s from Enterprise Rent-A-Car for $4,400 a month, said lifeguard Lt. Mike Baumgartner. The lifeguards can’t equip the rental vehicles with emergency lights and radio equipment.
Officials say the city will need its full complement of vehicles by summer, when the city’s 3.5 miles of beach are crowded.
The city is negotiating with Nissan to replace the vehicles. Nissan spokesmen said talks were “ongoing” but nothing had been decided.
The city can ill afford the $500,000 to replace the Chevy fleet because it already is reeling with budget cuts and repayment of a property tax that was illegally collected from homeowners.
The other cities losing their free Chevys are Seal Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, San Clemente, Solana Beach and Imperial Beach. Orange and San Diego counties and state lifeguards also are losing the loaned Chevy trucks.
Huntington Beach and Long Beach had struck individual deals with Chevy; the other agencies had negotiated as a consortium.
While the group is now hustling to collectively find replacement vehicles, the individual agencies are exploring fallback plans if a group sponsorship isn’t forged. Los Angeles County’s beach vehicles are provided free by Nissan.
The practice of auto manufacturers offering vehicles to generate brand exposure on photogenic Southern California beaches hit its peak with the popularity of the “Baywatch” television series during the ‘90s, said Long Beach Fire Chief Terry Harbour.
Auto manufacturers, he said, wanted to strut their hot fenders alongside bikini-clad beauties and chiseled hunks.
When Nissan signed a deal with L.A. County beaches in 1995, “Baywatch” actress Brooke Burns led a caravan of 60 Nissan trucks and SUVs from Venice Beach to Will Rogers State Beach.
In exchange for supplying the lifeguards’ vehicles, the auto manufacturers were able to promote their names at volleyball tournaments, surf contests and before millions of beachgoers each year.
“It was a mutually beneficial arrangement,” Baumgartner said. “Chevrolet supplied us with vehicles and they got the exposure on our beach, with visitation approaching 9 million a year.”
A spokeswoman for Chevrolet said the arrangement wasn’t paying off as hoped.
“The timing was off,” said Nancy Libby, communications manager for General Motors. “It was nobody’s fault, [but] we didn’t take full advantage of opportunities, and we didn’t get in as much exposure as we originally thought that we would.”
The carmaker decided, instead, to pursue a new promotions strategy, Libby said.
“It was a major disappointment,” said Mark Boone, chief of Long Beach lifeguards. “We’re facing a lot of cuts here.” The city decided to purchase eight of the 12 trucks, Boone said.
The loss of Chevys in Laguna Beach was difficult because the City Council had signed up reluctantly.
“We’ve never allowed any advertising on any city property before,” said Ken Frank. “We don’t have any advertising on our buses, bus benches. We’re not Coke city,” referring to deals that soft drink makers have with some cities.
But Frank admitted it was hard to pass up a deal that provided the city with expensive vehicles at no cost.
The cities have the option of purchasing the vehicles at a discount, Libby said, and several are considering the deal.
In Newport Beach, City Manager Homer Bludau said he has yet to get a firm price from Chevy for its 13 vehicles.
Cities’ options are limited. There is not a lot of time to seek out a new corporate sponsor, and Nissan, which supplies Frontier pickups and Xterras to Los Angeles County lifeguards, is not racing to fill the vacuum.
“I don’t think we’re in a mode to acquire additional beaches,” said Mike Grollman, senior manager of Nissan marketing.
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Beached patrols
Chevrolet asked local, county and state beaches to return vehicles they were loaned for lifeguard and rescue duty. The company provided the trucks in exchange for the right to advertise its products on various beaches.
Number of trucks Chevrolet had on loan, by beach
*--* Beach/agency Number Orange County beaches 21 Huntington Beach city 20 Orange Coast (state parks) 14 Newport Beach city 13 Long Beach city 12 Seal Beach city 6 Solana Beach city 4 Imperial Beach city 3 Laguna Beach city 3 San Clemente city 3
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Sources: Chevrolet, Orange County, beaches listed
Compiled by Times staff writer Stanley Allison
