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Chevway

To read the full Chevway story, as it originally appeared in 1966, click here.

In 1966, an energetic Chevrolet dealer from Waltham, Mass., by the name of William H. Mitchell, Jr. had a plan. He and a small group of other Chevrolet dealers felt that an independent Chevrolet dealer group could operate successfully in the fleet and leasing market with GM's blessings and so approached General Motors. Larry Averill, general sales manager of Chevrolet and a veteran fleet sales manager and ex-dealer, knew the opportunities and the obvious limitations with the  dealer-first dedication of both Chevrolet and General Motors. There was also a keen awareness to the loss of sales to both Ford and Chrysler in the past few years primarily due to their respective efforts in organizing their interested dealers to serve this volume buying industry.

Armed with their own enthusiasm and what appeared to be a sympathetic ear in Detroit, Mitchell and 16 other Chevrolet dealers officially founded Chevway Corporation on March 12th, 1965, when they adopted their Certificate of Incorporation (Delaware) in Chicago.

After a thorough research project by the General Motors' legal staff, Chevway was granted the right to use the name "Chevway" by Chevrolet under a license agreement which is terminable by GM for any just uncured default by Chevway after 9 days notice.

The Chevway group was given the opportunity to deal with GMAC for financing, MIC for insurance and Campbell Ewald (Chevrolet's advertising agency) for promotion.

Chevway's concept was to negotiate national fleet leases with an active sales force permitting the local Chevway dealer, whenever possible, to furnish the vehicles, to service them during the lease term, and to sell them through their own local facilities at the end of the lease. Title to the vehicles will be transferred to Chevway at the time of purchase and lease payments will be made to Chevway.

 

 

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