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Strategies & Market Trends : Graham and Doddsville -- Value Investing In The New Era -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: porcupine --''''> who wrote (1039)	12/15/1998 11:25:00 PM
From: porcupine --''''>	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

GM plans ad campaign to boost Chevy Tracker sales By Michael Ellis DETROIT, Dec 7 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet division expects to turn around plummeting sales of its Tracker small sport utility vehicle with a new design and a $25 million advertising campaign next year, officials said on Monday. Television ads starting Jan. 11, recalling the "Where's Carmen Sandiego?" cartoon and game, show Tracker driving through muddy potholes and over cobblestones in unknown exotic locations. Viewers will be asked to guess "Where's the Tracker?", and a correct guess could win one of the SUVs. "All in all, this is certainly our largest investment in Tracker advertising ever. It will be well over $25 million in '99," John Middlebrook, Chevrolet general manager, said in a luncheon speech to the Automotive Press Association in Detroit. "Our goal is to more than double our sales from '98 to '99 from 22,000 units this year to 50,000 in '99." Since 1996, industry sales of small sport utility vehicles have risen 36 percent, and are expected to grow about 56 percent by the end of the 2000 calendar year, said Middlebrook, who effective Jan. 1 becomes general manager of vehicle brand marketing for North America. But Tracker sales, hit by competition from the Toyota Motor Corp.'s <7203.T> RAV4 and Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s <7267.T> CR-V, have dropped from a peak of more than 47,000 units in 1996. Chevrolet said last month that the manufacturers suggested retail price of $16,295, including delivery charges, of the 1999 Tracker gave it a price advantage of $1,900 over the CR-V and $2,800 over the RAV4. The $25 million advertising campaign, created by Warren, Mich. advertising agency Campbell-Ewald, part of the giant Interpublic Group of Cos. Inc. , is the largest in the history of Tracker, Middlebrook said. Separately, Middlebrook said Chevrolet would continue manufacturing its Lumina mid-size sedan next year as it ramps up production of its redesigned front-wheel-drive Impala. But the Lumina will be discontinued in the future. "Long term, we are not looking at replacing Lumina," Middlebrook said. Sales of Lumina, last redesigned for the 1995 model year, plunged 22 percent the first 11 months this year to 166,794 units versus 213,705 units for the 11-month period last year. The new Impala, in its heyday the best-selling U.S. car every year in the 1960s, will begin arriving in showrooms late in the second quarter and could become Chevrolet's best-selling car. "I think it can be the high-volume vehicle in our lineup," said Kurt Ritter, Middlebrook's successor as Chevrolet general manager. Chevrolet's new Monte Carlo coupe will show up at dealerships late in the summer or early in the fall, Middlebrook said. Chevrolet plans to launch a new vehicle every six months through 2003, Ritter said.