Target for Traverse: No. 1 in large crossovers
Target for Traverse: No. 1 in large crossovers
Automotive News | September 29, 2008 - 12:01 am EST
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| Early incentives could help the Traverse beat Highlander and Pilot. |
DETROIT — Toyota and Honda dominate the large-crossover segment, but Chevrolet says it can beat them both with the new Traverse.
How to outsell the segment leaders, the Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot? With a bigger retail network, of course, and incentives from the get-go.
Toyota sold 127,878 Highlanders in 2007 and Honda sold 117,146 Pilots. Chevrolet boss Ed Peper says the Traverse can do better.
Chevy plans to offer a cash rebate to non-General Motors vehicle owners who buy a Traverse. That cash is not yet available.
"We need to conquest," Peper said. "We need fresh people."
Chevy already has a $2,000 cash rebate available to buyers coming off leases with GMAC and other financing companies. That offer applies to all Chevrolet models, a company spokesman said.
The Traverse starts at $28,990, including shipping.
As of last week, the Traverse’s main incentive was a $2,000 cash rebate available to buyers coming off leases with GMAC and other financing companies. That offer applied to all Chevrolet models, the spokesman said.
Besides established competitors such as the Pilot and Highlander, the Traverse will compete against the new Ford Flex and three GM siblings: the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook.
Commercials for the Traverse began airing during the Summer Olympics in August. In the third week of September, the crossover began arriving at dealerships. After a brief hiatus, ads resumed in September and will run through year end, Peper said. He declined to share the Traverse’s marketing budget.
Chevy dealers are glad to get the Traverse in their showrooms. But with four similar crossovers from GM, the challenge for dealers will be getting customers to tell the family members apart. That’s been a major criticism of GM’s platform-sharing strategy.
Brian Boyd, general manager of Charles Boyd Chevrolet-Pontiac-Cadillac-Buick-GMC in Henderson, N.C., said he has to be careful with his Traverse orders so as not to crowd the higher-priced GMC and Buick models. He plans to order lower-priced versions of the Chevrolet and higher trim levels of the GMC and Buick.
"We have to price-point this vehicle so we can still sell our Envoys and Acadias," Boyd said, "because they are duplicate vehicles to a point."
