How come???

[T76]

Many Chevy dealers don't advertise Sonics on tv or in their newspaper ads.You would swear the line starts with Cruze.Have not seen Sonic advertised by 4 dealers in my area since November.Is it because it is equal to or better than a cruze? We know it can't hold a candle to Spark.Maybe the Sonic model is going to disappear.

 

[Natesriv]

discussed here often.. The Cruze is all new this year, so expect more ads, same with Spark.
Sonic since day 1 has had little to no advertising...An initial media blitz then just kaput..

IMO, Sonic will soldier on with an MCE perhaps in a year, then it'll just get discontinued. Which GM is famous for...

Ford has the Focus with improvments and new models for years now
Honda the Civic.... the gold standard
Toyota the Corolla... 2nd in command

Chevy... besides the pickup truck line, they've not had a continuous model that I can recall which didn't have some long hiatus (Camaro, Malibu, Impala)

I'd love to see a 2nd gen Sonic, a 3rd and so on, each model change better than before, with a max of 5 years between models....

oh well...

 

[MORTIS]

As stated, the much updated Spark and Cruise are the current new models to push by GM and dealers.
There's still no notable updates for the new Sonic, but the main reason there's nothing on TV and newspapers is because, since 2011, advertising of the Sonic has been intentionally limited to the web only, as they assumed the buyer demographic are mainly internet shoppers. You'll find hundreds of reviews and adverts of the Sonic on Youtube.

 

[ChrisRS]

Natesriv, Chevy has the longest continuous model I know of = Corvette!!

 

[Natesriv]

OH SNAP you're right!!!!



Okay, BESIDES the Vette (which look so damn AWESOME with this model!!!)

 

[carsNskis]

The short answer is "because data". There was a massive media blitz with Rob Dyrdek doing all kinds of crazy stuff in the SONIC. The money spent did not equate to a boost in car sales. It's a vehicle segment that is not strong in North America like it is in other countries.

As owners we have come to understand the value of the Sonic, but to the American buying public it is not a high percentage seller.

Take Volkswagen for example. The GTI is hands down the best car in the segment, but they really only advertise the Jetta, Passat and Tiguan on TV.

Americans just don't appreciate the hatchback as much as they should

.....drive it like you still owe the bank money

 

[eggsalad]

Maybe it's because of where I live, but I have only seen a tiny number of privately-owned Sonics. From this angle, it appears that 95% of Sonic sales are to rental-car companies. At least 9 out of 10 Sonics I see have rent-a-car bar code stickers.

Why advertise it if Hertz, etc. make up 95% of your customers?

 

[The Champ]

FWIW - GM has greatly reduced it's sales to rental fleets - focusing more on the retail market because of increased profitability. This is good news to GM owners, because rental companies flood the market with late model used cars and screw up the resale market.

Too much angst about the marketing of the Sonic.

It's a low profit car that sells just fine without spending money on ads.

The Sonic outsells the Spark 2 to 1 - so what good does the marketing on the Spark do?

 

[Palmaris]

Its true. And like The Champ has said before, as long as the price of gas is cheap, the Sonic and the Spark will both sell poorly.

 

[Natesriv]

Europe has embraced small cars and hatchbacks especially. Here in the US it's wide open spaces and longer commutes and big old trucks and old Caddy's make up our history...so there's less of a market for a smaller car...I'm not really sure if any marketing campaign would bring up those numbers for cars like ours....

Short of $4/gallon gas we'll keep on buy big trucks... It's not any better for full sized cars though. It's all CUV's being bought and pickups...

 

[carsNskis]

Europe has embraced small cars and hatchbacks especially. Here in the US it's wide open spaces and longer commutes and big old trucks and old Caddy's make up our history...so there's less of a market for a smaller car...I'm not really sure if any marketing campaign would bring up those numbers for cars like ours....

Short of $4/gallon gas we'll keep on buy big trucks... It's not any better for full sized cars though. It's all CUV's being bought and pickups...

It's a thing of necessity in Europe. With gasoline typically over $7/gal it's a luxury. So is space... Germany is nearly the same size as Colorado, with 15m people vs 3.5m...

.....drive it like you still owe the bank money

 

[Natesriv]

yeah, they tax a lot more per gallon. We need to raise the gas tax up a bit too, so we can actually pay for the roads we're driving on..

 

[bluejay]

because our cars are so awesome gm doesn't need to advertise

 

[The Champ]

Europe has embraced small cars and hatchbacks especially. Here in the US it's wide open spaces and longer commutes and big old trucks and old Caddy's make up our history...so there's less of a market for a smaller car...I'm not really sure if any marketing campaign would bring up those numbers for cars like ours....

Short of $4/gallon gas we'll keep on buy big trucks... It's not any better for full sized cars though. It's all CUV's being bought and pickups...

I lived in Germany for over 3 years (stationed there). Europe has always had small cars because their roads (other then the autobahn) are mostly windy and narrow. I owned 3 cars over there - a '64 VW (a model not exported to the states), an '69 Opel Rekord (bigger than an Opel Kadette that was exported to the states and sold by Buick dealers) and a
74 AMC Sportabout wagon that was a small wagon by U.S. standards - but a fairly big car over there.

I did drive some military vehicles over there - and many times needed to drive on my passenger side tires on the sidewalks to get to where I was going.

On a relatively recent (December of '13) trip to Germany I had a BMW 525 - and had an extremely difficult time parking in any of the parking ramps because my car was "so big". Driving on some of the city streets was also difficult to maneuver around.

Driving over there was a lot of fun. No speed limits on the autobahn and the windy twisties roads made things fun when there wasn't any traffic.

As far as small cars and hatchbacks from the "American" car manufacturers - they've been around for 50 plus years.

In the early 60's we had the Falcon, Nova and the Tempest, Cutlass and Skylark triplets. In the early 70's we had the Pinto and the Vega/Astre twins (both available in the hatchback).

In the late 70's into the 80's we had the Chevette and T1000 hatchback sisters. We also had the AMC/Renault Alliance (sedan) and Encore (hatchback).

 

[Sonicnw]

Its true. And like The Champ has said before, as long as the price of gas is cheap, the Sonic and the Spark will both sell poorly.

yup, with gas and diesel so low , high mileage cars are not hot right now. diesel trucks and any truck and suvs are in. when gas prices go up sonic and other econo cars will be the rage and your resale value will jump up again. as long as the cruze is around I think the sonic will be too. they are very similar and use the same parts. sonic still sells well enough to make money so I think it will be around. I would imagine we will see an update to the car soon as they are done updating cruze and other models.

 

[carsNskis]

yup, with gas and diesel so low , high mileage cars are not hot right now. diesel trucks and any truck and suvs are in. when gas prices go up sonic and other econo cars will be the rage and your resale value will jump up again. as long as the cruze is around I think the sonic will be too. they are very similar and use the same parts. sonic still sells well enough to make money so I think it will be around. I would imagine we will see an update to the car soon as they are done updating cruze and other models.

They don't sell well enough to make money, they are part of the cafe standard offset. They are break even cars.

Gas prices will not affect your resale value, an economy car will always have a mediocre resale value. High Quantity + low demand = low value.

.....drive it like you still owe the bank money

 

[albuquerqueith]

As stated, the much updated Spark and Cruise are the current new models to push by GM and dealers.
There's still no notable updates for the new Sonic, but the main reason there's nothing on TV and newspapers is because, since 2011, advertising of the Sonic has been intentionally limited to the web only, as they assumed the buyer demographic are mainly internet shoppers. You'll find hundreds of reviews and adverts of the Sonic on Youtube.

Trax is new and I've seen swat promotion for it. Could Chevy be waiting for the (already??) 2017 Trax freshening. And all the Cruise ads I've seen are for the Limited, which is the old generation.

 

[The Champ]

Trax is new and I've seen swat promotion for it. Could Chevy be waiting for the (already??) 2017 Trax freshening. And all the Cruise ads I've seen are for the Limited, which is the old generation.

The Chevy Trax is a model that has been in production for years worldwide - the worldwide version is being updated - so the Chevy Trax benefits.

In it's first year, the Trax sold almost as many units as it's sister car, the Buick Encore (63,000 Trax vs 67,000 Encores). In the Encores first year (2013), they only sold 31,000.

Why spend money advertising the low end SUV? It sells fine without it.

How often do you see a TV ad for a Tahoe or Suburban? GM advertises the Silverado, and people still buy these vehicles in huge numbers.

It cost a lot of money to create ads for all the different product lines. Most cost efficient and profitable to make a few ads that create a positive image for the entire brand.

Car wise, they spend money promoting the Cruze and the Malibu right now. That gets the folks to the dealers and then the dealers job is to get the people into the right product.

They actually are doing an excellent job.

 

[Natesriv]

just came across this image...don't think it's a Trax styling model (it's a 2 door I think), but puts the Trax's looks to shame!

 

[carsNskis]

I got some reputable inside information today which explains why there has been no revision for the sonic scheduled.

Chevrolet has an agreement with the UAW to build the sonic. Currently Chevrolet is looking for ways to get the sonic built cheaper and therefore be more competitive in the segment (and more profitable).

In order to do so they've agreed to replace the Sonic with at least 2 other vehicles. So far the Trax had been committed, and once they add a second vehicle I'm sure the SONIC production will then be outsourced.

Once they've decided where the sonic can be produced cheaper (likely Mexico) that's when you'll start to see some brain power going into a new design

.....drive it like you still owe the bank money