General Motors gears up for five months of celebration across the Middle East
Middle East - General Motors Middle East is gearing up for a five-month period of celebratory activities to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Chevrolet.
On November 3, 1911, Swiss immigrant Louis Chevrolet and U.S. entrepreneur Billy Durant founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company.
Today, Chevrolet is one of the world's best-known and most popular automotive brands with more than 200 million Chevrolet vehicles sold over the past 100 years. In 2010 alone, more than 4.2 million Chevrolets were sold in over 130 countries - or about one Chevrolet every seven-and-a-half seconds.
Chevrolet has become part of the fabric of life in the Middle East and has influenced the region's automotive history ever since the first Chevrolet vehicles were introduced to the region in the early 20th Century.
Chevrolet helped to blaze a trail in the Middle East that would revolutionize transport, shorten travel times, open up vast areas of previously inaccessible desert, and change the lives and fortunes of the region's people for ever.
"This year's centennial is a great chance to reflect on the passion and emotion that has made Chevrolet what it is today. It's also an important opportunity to look ahead as we build on the promise of the Chevrolet brand to make it as relevant tomorrow as it has been for the past 100 years," said John Stadwick, President and Managing Director of GM Middle East.
"Chevrolet was built on the cornerstones of value, reliability, performance and expressive design. For millions of Chevrolet customers in the Middle East and around the world, it continues to represent these same qualities today."
GM Middle East will celebrate the Centennial with a number of activities. This will include special premieres of the movie Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon, which features several Chevrolet vehicles, including the Camaro Bumblebee.
Unique photographs, videos and fun Chevrolet activities will be displayed on the Chevrolet Arabia Facebook page (www.facebook.com/chevroletarabia).
GM Middle East is also planning various events across the Middle East to celebrate Chevrolet's milestone anniversary.
"We'll be able to tell you more about the planned Centennial activities the closer we get to the actual centennial date of 3 November. We're looking forward to celebrating this special milestone with everyone in the Middle East," added Stadwick.
Chevrolet's Centennial is being celebrated across the globe. Last week at the Indianapolis 500, which also celebrates its centennial this year, the race was paced by a 2011 Camaro SS Convertible - the 22nd Chevrolet to have the honor. Using a Chevrolet as a pace car was fitting as Louis Chevrolet's brother Arthur competed in the first Indy 500 in 1911, while Louis himself competed in the 1915 and 1919 races.
On 19 June, the Louis Chevrolet Rally will be held in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland - the birth place of Chevrolet's founder. The rally will bring together 1,000 Chevrolets from all over the world, dating from 1911 to the present day.
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About General Motors
General Motors Company (NYSE: GM, TSX: GMM), one of the world's largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 209,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in more than 120 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 31 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Daewoo, Holden, Isuzu, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall, and Wuling. GM's largest national market is China, followed by the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Italy. General Motors acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors can be found at www.gm.com. In the Middle East since the 1920s, General Motor's vehicle brands sold in the region are Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC supported by a unique set of customer-focused services. GM parts and accessories are sold under the GM Parts and ACDelco brands. The regional office in Dubai covers the company's operations in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE and Yemen. For more media material about GM in the Middle East, please visit http://media.gmarabia.com.
About Chevrolet
Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet is celebrating its centennial as a global automotive brand. Last year, about 4.25 million Chevrolets were sold in more than 120 countries or one every 7.4 seconds. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. Chevrolet has a strong heritage in the Middle East - stretching back more than eight decades - where it has established itself as one of the most trusted automotive brands in the region.
The Chevrolet portfolio includes passenger cars, crossovers and SUVs, from the Camaro and Corvette performance cars, to award-winning passenger cars including the Aveo, Sonic, Spark, Cruze and Malibu, to crossovers like the Captiva and Traverse, to the Colorado and Silverado pickup. Chevrolet offers fuel-saving engines, hybrids and the Volt extended-range electric vehicle, which provides up to 80 km of electric, gasoline-free driving and a total driving range of 570 km. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevroletarabia.com.
For more information:
Samer El Khalil
Regional Communications Manager
General Motors Middle East
Tel (+9714) 3143333
E-mail: samer.elkhalil@gm.com
Marwan Abu Ghanem
Tel (+9714) 4055511
E-mail marwan.abu-ghanem@hillandknowlton.com
© Press Release 2011
