1911
Ousted GM founder William
Durant and car engineer and
racing legend Louis Chevrolet
start the Chevrolet Motor Car Co.
The Chevrolet is the first vehicle
to feature a gearshift in the center of the floor. It costs $2, 150—
equal to about $50,000 today.
World Summit
for Youth
Volunteering
THURSDAY 03
1913
Durant so admires the wallpaper
in a French motel, he adapts the
design for Chevrolet’s new bow-tie logo, according to company
lore. Other designers see it as a
stylized Swiss cross, honoring
Louis Chevrolet’s homeland.
03
THURSDAY
One-fifth of
young Americans
donate time
to a cause.
100th Anniversary:
Chevrolet
BY KATE ROCK WOOD
ILLUSTRATIONS BY RAYMOND BIESINGER
1955
Chevrolet introduces its
small-block V8 engine. It
remains in production longer
than any other mass-produced
engine in the world.
At any given moment, young volunteers across the globe are building schools and feeding the
hungry—efforts that will be celebrated at this Barranquilla, Colombia, gathering. As the American
presidential election heats up,
stateside youths will turn their efforts to knocking on doors to lasso
votes. Mormon hopefuls Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman may have
a leg up: Utah, home of the Church
of Latter Day Saints, is the No. 1
state for volunteerism among
young adults, with 40% pitching in.
—LILLIAN CUNNINGHAM
1974
Chevy marketers craft a new
jingle, “Baseball, hot dogs,
apple pie, and Chevrolet.”
The campaign is reintroduced
in 2006, adding modern
American favorites such as
“macchiatos” to the tune.
Social Gaming
Summit
MONDAY 14
Last year, the Detroit-based
automaker adopted the tagline
“Chevrolet runs deep.” Boy, are
they right. Over the past century,
the all-American automobile
manufacturer has zoomed from
low-cost Ford alternative to
sports-car pioneer to surprisingly
brisk seller overseas. Here, how a
car company that began as a
thumb of the nose at rival General Motors became one of GM’s
postbankruptcy bright spots.
2007
The Volt is unveiled as the first
plug-in hybrid concept car by a
major manufacturer. Though
$40,000 in price, the EPA rates it
the most efficient compact car in
the U.S., averaging 93 miles per
gallon in electric mode.
2011
Two years after its parent
company, GM, emerges from
bankruptcy, Chevrolet
announces an all-time sales
record of 2. 35 million cars sold
in the first half of the year, up 16%
over 2010. It seems Chevy is revving up for its second century.
Build a game, and they will play—
and pay. Of the 62 million Ameri-
cans who will log game time on a
social network this year, some 10%
will open their real-world wallets to
buy virtual goods. That small per-
centage is nothing to scoff at, says
Paul Verna, analyst at eMarketer.
“It’s like gambling,” he says, encour-
aging companies to pursue repeat
purchasers, a lesson of this Lon-
don conference. “It’s little bits at a
time, but it becomes substantial.”
He’s not kidding. The small popula-
tion of purchase-happy gamers in
the U.S. will spend an estimated
$653 million on virtual goods this
year. Game on. —CHRISTINA CHAE Y
PATRICKT.FALLON/ZUMAPRESS
