Chevrolet celebrates 100 years as an American icon
BY MARK PHELAN
DETROIT FREE PRESS
Oct. 30, 2011
100 Years of Chevrolet
Some brands transcend commerce.
Through an alchemy of great products, good timing and sheer magic, they acquire meanings that reach far beyond their original purpose.
Levi’s. Coca-Cola. Apple. Chevrolet.
Sometime during 100 years of carrying families on vacation, hauling hay wagons, winning races and hosting nervous first dates, Chevrolet became the vehicle of our memories, dreams and hopes as much as it is a line of cars and trucks.
Chevrolet created emblems for American eras. Chevy measured our national mood — from the pastoral postwar ’48 Suburban, to the pastel ’57 Bel Air, space-age ’63 Corvette Sting Ray, self-assured ’69 Camaro, diffident ’76 Chevette, back-to-work ’99 Silverado and electrifying 2011 Volt.
Those were just a few of the Chevrolet icons that packed the Woodward Dream Cruise in a pre-centennial drive-in this summer. If you forgot to get a gift then, there’s still time. Chevy’s actual 100th anniversary — 100, what’s that? Platinum spark plugs? Radial tires? — is this Thursday.
Founded by a Swiss émigré looking to make his fortune and an ousted GM executive angling for a second chance, Chevrolet’s history is the American Dream. Not many brands could get away with wrapping themselves in the flag and equating “Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.” Chevy paid its dues and earned the right to that boast.
At the beginning of its second century, Chevrolet sells more vehicles outside the U.S. than at home. Designers and engineers around the world are trying to cast a 21st-Century spell that transmutes Chevrolet’s American values into a global powerhouse.
If they succeed, Chevrolet will become an American brand that’s at home around the world, a cherished memory in family albums from Chicago to Shanghai.
Read the original article at: http://www.freep.com/article/20111030/BUSINESS0104/110300511/Chevrolet-celebrates-100-years-an-American-icon
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