NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — General Motors has banned the use of the Chevy name in all of its corporate communications. From now on, the bow-tie brand will go by its proper name, Chevrolet.
It’s OK if you still call your car a Chevy. It’s just that GM won’t.
The problem, said Alan Batey, vice president of sales for Chevrolet in the U.S., is that in today’s Internet-connected world, documents and Web sites created for an American audience can be read by anyone, anywhere. And the use of two different names for one car brand — Chevy and Chevrolet — can cause confusion abroad.
While Chevy is a popular nickname for the brand in the U.S. and Canada, it’s not used in any of the other 130 or so countries where the brand is sold.