Blazing trails, boosting sales

No vehicle comes close to matching the TrailBlazer in local sales.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

The Chevrolet TrailBlazer is the king of the road in these parts.

Mahoning Valley car dealers have sold more TrailBlazers than any other vehicle in the past 18 months. No other model comes close.

TrailBlazer sales in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties since August 2006 total 4,444. Coming in at No. 2 is the Chevrolet Impala with 2,083 sales.

The TrailBlazer has been the top-selling vehicle in the Mahoning Valley in each of the past seven months and for 14 of the past 18 months, according to figures from the Automobile Dealers Association of Eastern Ohio.

“It all comes down to price,” said Barry Gonis, general manager of Spitzer Autoworld in North Jackson. “And the price is right on the TrailBlazer.”

Car dealers often have been able to offer lease deals with payments under $200 a month for the midsize sport-utility vehicle.

Generous lease deals have been possible because Chevrolet often has given local dealers a $2,600 rebate that they are passing on to customers who take leases, Gonis said. Over a 36-month lease, that rebate cuts payments by $72 a month.

Sometimes an additional $500 rebate is given to dealers, including one that starts in March, he said.

No other incentives from Chevrolet compare to the TrailBlazer offers, he said.

Gonis said Mahoning Valley dealers benefit by being part of two regions for General Motors Corp. Often, one region has better incentives than the other, he said.

The current rebate to dealers is coming from a region that includes mostly areas east of the Valley, he said. Other parts of Ohio aren’t included in that region, so dealers as close as Akron and Cleveland don’t have the same lease offers as local dealers do, he said.

Brian Goebel, a Chevrolet spokesman, said vehicles that have been on the market for a while often receive incentives to attract customers’ attention.

“It’s a competitive industry,” he said.

The TrailBlazer was introduced in 2002 as a replacement for the Blazer.

Some auto dealers speculated that the TrailBlazer is about to be phased out because Chevrolet is introducing a new crossover vehicle called the Traverse late this year.

Goebel said, however, that no end date has been set for the TrailBlazer, which is made in Moraine, Ohio. The Traverse, which has three rows of seats, is an additional model in the Chevy lineup, he said.

“We still have a solid customer base for the TrailBlazer,” Goebel added.

Mike Hudock, general manager of Stadium GM Superstore in Salem, said $3-a-gallon gas hasn’t hurt buyers’ enthusiasm for the TrailBlazer. It is rated at 14 mpg in the city and 22 on the highway.

“In today’s day and age where we’re paying $1 for a 12-ounce bottle of water, I don’t think people are too concerned about the price of gas,” Hudock said.

Chris Sammartino, general manager of Sweeney Chevrolet in Boardman, said some people will buy a TrailBlazer but most opt for the lease because of the payment.

The sticker price on the SUV ranges from about $28,000 to $40,000.

GM has been offering zero-percent financing and rebates of $4,000 to customers who buy.

Sammartino said most buyers opt for a lease if it’s under $200 as opposed to paying $25,000 or $30,000 for a vehicle. The lease deals include upfront payments of up to $1,950.

The TrailBlazer has been so popular lately that Sweeney Chevrolet has been the No. 1 seller of the vehicle in the country the past two years. It sold 779 last year and 846 in 2006.

Its sister store, Sweeney Buick Pontiac GMC, also has been the No. 1 seller of the GMC Envoy, which is a twin of the TrailBlazer.
That dealership sold 565 Envoys last year and 486 in 2006.

The Envoy has been the fifth-best-selling car locally over the past 18 months with 1,428 sales.

shilling@vindy.com