Hi Steven,
I accidently sent my msg before it was complete... I also meant to add that I have emailed GM Customer Service for a response on the Mexicao and Latin America sales of the Nova and why the exact car was remnamed the "Caribe" in 1974. I will keep you posted on their response...
Regards, Steve Neago
Cincinnati, OH
> Hello Steven,
>
> I hope you have not been sucked into marketing hype by random and
> unsubstantiated Internet postings... here is what I found that directly
> contradicts your "expert's" claims... To give a balanced side of the
story,
> perhaps you should have included claims that
>
> BTW, that marketing professor for my class worked for GM and I trust what
he
> said more than random internet postings.
>
> http://www.namesavers.net/
>
> DON'T GO THERE . . .
> Adopting a name without checking on the potential language translations
can
> be both painful and humorous as GM executives learned after they launched
> their NOVA line of CHEVROLET cars. While Chevys were traditionally popular
> in Latin American countries, the NOVA was an unusually hard sell, since
> NO-VA means literally in Spanish: "Does not go, Will not go."
>
> http://www.malkam.com/
>
> You can't help but smile at the story of Chevrolet marketing their brand
new
> Nova in Latin America and then not grasping why it didn't sell. The
problem
> lay in the language. "No va" in Spanish means "doesn't go", which is
exactly
> what happened to the sales figures.
>
> http://www.cba.uni.edu/
> Northern Iowa
>
> General Motors introduced the Nova in Latin America. Nova means, "it
doesn'
> t go" in Spanish. The car had terrible sales. G.M. finally figured out
> the problem, renamed the car Caribe, and the sales increased to the
company'
> s expectations.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steven L. Sheffield" <stevens@veloworks.com>
> To: "Steve Neago" <questor@cinci.rr.com>
> Cc: "Classic Rendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2003 8:29 AM
> Subject: Re: Chevy Nova (was Re: [CR]Bicycle brand nicknames)
>
>
> >
> > "Nova" in Spanish means "star" ... and is pronounced completely
> differently
> > than "No va".
> >
> > If you read the link I posted, the myth is so prevalent that it has made
> it
> > into marketing textbooks ... even though it is completely untrue.
That's
> > part of the myth that was debunked.
> >
> > And the Caribe (the model name most often cited as the "new" name for
the
> > Nova) was made by Volkswagen, not Chevrolet.
> >
> > See http://www.snopes.com/
> >
> > If that's not enough, then:
> >
> >
>
http://www.entrepreneur.com/
> > tml
> > http://spanish.about.com/
> > http://www.urbanlegends.com/
> >
> >
> >
> > on 01/04/2003 04:19 PM, Steve Neago at questor@cinci.rr.com wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Steven,
> > >
> > > Your claim of a "urban myth" was covered at length in one of my
college
> > > marketing class case studies in the early 1980s...
> > >
> > > The "No Va" (Nova) car brand name did negatively affect GM sales in
> Spanish
> > > speaking countries for that model and was verified by the Marketing
> > > Professor of my class at the time who did market research consulting
for
> GM.
> > >
> > > He claimed GM Detroit use to have a "one size fits all" mentality that
> did
> > > not recognize the unique needs and preferences of people living in
other
> > > countries. If I recall correctly, GM remnamed the "Nova" to
disfferent
> name
> > > after several years of languishing sales.
> > >
> > > Steve Neago
> > > "Questioning Internet claims, not the facts in Cincinnati, Ohio"
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Steven L. Sheffield" <stevens@veloworks.com>
> > > To: "Raoul Delmare" <R.Delmare@charter.net>; "Classic Rendezvous"
> > > <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>; "Mark Bulgier" <mark@bulgier.net>
> > > Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 12:23 PM
> > > Subject: OT: Chevy Nova (was Re: [CR]Bicycle brand nicknames)
> > >
> > >
> > >> on 01/04/2003 08:09 AM, Raoul Delmare at R.Delmare@Charter.net wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> Like when somebody at General Motors finally figured out why the
> > > Chevrolet
> > >>> Nova was not the best name for a car sent to Mexico . No Va = No
Go
> .
> > >>> Wonderful name for a car , "Won't Go" !!
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Urban myth.
> > >>
> > >> See http://www.snopes.com/
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >>
> > >> Steven L. Sheffield
> > >> stevens at veloworks dot com
> > >> veloworks at worldnet dot ay tea tee dot net
> > >> bellum pax est libertas servitus est nescio robur est
> > >> ess ay ell tea ell ay kay ee sea aye tee why you ti ay aitch
> > >> aitch tee tea pea colon [for word] slash [four ward] slash double-you
> > >> double-yew double-ewe dot veloworks dot com [four word] slash
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> _______________________________________________
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Steven L. Sheffield
> > stevens at veloworks dot com
> > veloworks at worldnet dot ay tea tee dot net
> > bellum pax est libertas servitus est ignoratio vis est
> > ess ay ell tea ell ay kay ee sea aye tee why you ti ay aitch
> > aitch tee tea pea colon [for word] slash [four ward] slash double-you
> > double-yew double-ewe dot veloworks dot com [four word] slash