Chevy Duty is changing names

[Putter]

I just got an e-mail from Chevy Duty about the name change. The e-mail is copied below.

Dear Eric,

As a truck restorer you know what it means to make modifications to make something better. That's what we're now doing with our company.

Recently General Motors asked Chevy Duty to discontinue using 'Chevy' in its name. We looked at this requested change as a starting point to not only change the name, but change other parts of our business as well. We want to make the restoration experience better for you, our customer.



We're excited to announce that in a few weeks, Chevy Duty will become Classic Parts of America. With Classic Parts of America you'll still get the greatest selection of parts, pricing and service for your truck restorations. And, we're improving processes so you'll get your orders more efficiently.

Look for the new Classic Parts of America logo on our website and future catalogs. And remember...

The name may change but our commitment to serving you never will.

Thanks,

Mark Jansen
President
Classic Parts of America

[Putter]

Here is a screen shot of the actual e-mail....

What next?? Will they attack "Chevy Chase" and ask him to change his name to Bob Chase? And even that won't work....Chase Bank will want him to change his last name also.

So, National Lampoons will have new movies featuring Bob Persue (Get it...persue means the same as chase !!!)

[CPNE]

You need to understand that a "Brand" and "Branding" are the most important and expensive intangible assets that any company has. It takes years to build, days to diminish. A company has every right to protect that brand and maintain exclusivity to it, so they and they alone control it's "destiny".

Now granted Chevy Duty probably did nothing but bring positive things the the "Chevy" brand. But who is to say that at some point they would not have tarnished it, say through being sold to less scrupulous owners?

I know to some this action might seem petty and unwarranted, but looking at the big picture, it only makes sense.

[Luvlegs]

Originally Posted by CPNE

I know to some this action might seem petty and unwarranted, but looking at the big picture, it only makes sense.

I know my attorney had to research names before I could make my company official - Should a business called for example "McDonalds Farms" have to change their name at the restaurant business's request? No - they, like I, pay for the name (yearly fee to do business under the name) after it's determined to be unused by others. Now if McDonalds had some sort of helpful business dealings with the farm, I could see them politely asking to desist. What if all car parts suppliers had to go by "car parts" - it'd be hard to find who you needed. Of course, in this case, the big guy won. I can't comment anymore without knowing all the sorted details so I'll stop there. My .02

[special-K]

Alright,now it`s Whatever Duty.Are they allowed to use pictures of the trucks to represent themselves?Oh sorry,that`s next.I guess I`ll go out and drive My Truck That Was Made By Chevy to the job now.I used to call it my Chevy Truck.
www.67-72trucksthatweremadebygm.com

[72armyswbtruck]

What a bummer, I think that it is all a crock, Oh well, good to know the new name change, I won't wonder who the heck they are

[bouncytruck]

I'm actually surprised they were able to use that name from the start. The name could imply that they are a division chevrolet.

The issue is that Chevy Duty is doing business in the same area of business as Chevrolet. This is a huge brand liability for Chevrolet. Should Chevy Duty gain a poor reputation, it could reflect poorly on Chevrolet. intentionally or not, Chevy Duty has postitioned themselves to appear to be a related company. They also use the Chevy Bowtie logo as part of their logo. This is a registered trade mark and Chevrolet should do everything they can to control their brand image.

As a designer who often developes and maintains brands for large corporations, I completely agree with Chevy's position on this subject. It is unfortunate for Chevy Duty, but that is why there are professionals who name companies, develop brands, design logos and research trademarks to avoid situations like this. I'm sure Chevy Duty started as a small company, but they are one of the larger players in the sales and distribution of chevrolet reproduction part now and this is unfortunately a growing pain for them.

On the bright side, this is a huge marketing and PR opportunity for them. Look what interest one email has generated on in a forum of their target audience.

[mplex2000]

Happens all the time, and it's frickin rediculous. If it ever happened to one of my small businesses, I would be very insulted personally, but in the end it's just business and what I care about is making money.

It's just irritating that a company that big (and that is in danger of going bankrupt, lol, who obviously has bigger problems) takes time out of it's day to worry about such a petty issue IMO.

Talk all you want about Chevy Duty positioning themselves with Chevrolet/GM etc. Not even a retard would assume that the two are related entities. It's a technicality that a huge company is choosing to dwell on. Sure, it's their right, but come on.

[bouncytruck]

All that big company cares about is making money too. How would you feel if someone opened a business with your name. Perhaps that business is the most upstanding business and may have an onslaught of unhappy customers. By name only, your image may be tarnished as well.

Chevy Duty probably shouldn't have used anothers company's identity as a part of their name.

Not long ago, Starbucks was making a lady change the name of her latté stand because it was too similar to their name. The stand, named "Sam Bucks" seemed innocent enough at first. The gals name is Samantha Buck. After watching the story closer, it was clear that she was trying too make her coffee shop logo look like Starbucks as much as possible. Since her stop was located in the Pacific Northwest, they felt that tourist may think that it was a Starbucks. Most likey, this was a bit extreme and unnecessary, but they felt that she could tarnish their image by serving inferrior coffee.

I'll agree that sometimes it does get out of hand, but in the end, it is business.

[jay_shy]

When I was younger there was a local band that called themselves Badwrench. I would go from bar to bar to see them perform. I even seen them at the beach at ocean city maryland.

It seemed that at the height of the bands popularity the Goodwrench boys stepped in and made the change their name or suffer the consequences.

They changed their name to Stepped ON.

Jason

[CochinoFilipino]

Remember McDougals in that Eddie Murphy Movie?

He should've complained to the media and got some free publicity in the News.

But a new name is good, now he can expand into other markets like Year One did.

[Canadian694x4]

Ya I got that E-mail. Actually I'm surprised I even got one I've only purchased from them once in 5 years and it was under $75 dollars Nice to see tho I'm still in their mailing list.

I agree with Bouncytruck tho that this is a huge marketing and PR opportunity for them. Tho it may suck at first, I realize half the reason I was able to find them so easy on the net was that they had "Chevy" in thier name.

[HotRod71]

Since her stop was located in the Pacific Northwest, they felt that tourist may think that it was a Starbucks.

I have no opinion on this, that I will express here, either way. Now, how in the heck can someone that has heard of Starbucks, even think that Sam Bucks was the same place? If they did then someone needs to drag their hiney back to grade school and teach them to read.

[thejoker]

I started compiling a list of individuals with the name "Don" to file a class action suit to force all individuals present, past, and future to have their names changed, including tombstones.

So PM me if your name is Don. Please include your current address, telephone number, work number, cell phone number, address of employment, social security number, driver's license number, and a credit card number.

Thank You

JKR

[ChevLoRay]

Originally Posted by thejoker

I started compiling a list of individuals with the name "Don" to file a class action suit to force all individuals present, past, and future to have their names changed, including tombstones.

So PM me if your name is Don. Please include your current address, telephone number, work number, cell phone number, address of employment, social security number, driver's license number, and a credit card number.

Thank You

JKR

Okay, this is DON!! Now, I've been DON for almost 59 years. Wanna make somthin' of it?? Go ahead, make my day......

I didn't ever think that Chevy Duty had anything to do with Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors, but since GM is having such problems with money and such, I guess they had to find a way to make some money. Classic Parts of America....not too bad. Doesn't have the cache that Chevy Duty has, but we'll adjust. Hey, it's still Chevy Duty, as far as I am concerned.

Radio Shack made Auto Shack change their name because of the word "Shack". We had a Shack Barbeque in Little Rock. I don't remember The Shack making Radio Shack drop "shack". Now, we have Shaq to contend with....so, maybe Auto Shaq.....yeah, that's the ticket....

[HotRod71]

Now that was funny.

[wibilly]

look out GMC Paul you may be next

[CochinoFilipino]

I always laugh at that little legal notice on the back of the menus at Chevy's restaurants stating that they are in no way related to Chevrolet Motors.

[72ironmike]

Ask Joe's Junk about the name change. I think there is more to it.

[jc]

ive never ordered from or emailed chevy duty so how did they get my email to send me this notice.

the only place i can think of is here some how. im not a member of any other sites that deals with trucks either

not a big deal. i dont mind an email from them, but i am curious

[69_hafton]

I have to agree with bouncytruck on this - nobody likes the legal stuff, but if it was me trying to protect designs, licensing the name, intellectual rights and so forth, it has to be. There is a large aftermarket for these trucks, and probably cars to, that, if GM was smart, they would have continued making parts, or brought them back. It would take quite a bit of research on their part to know what the market is and what parts to start remanufacturing, but the retired GM workers might be better off.

There are other vehicle makes that are doing a very good business by selling their parts (that were NLA a few years ago). I really hope this is the direction Chevy is headed with this, and not just going after small businesses for the heck of it.

What does this have to do with the artist formerly known as Chevy Duty? I don't know, but I sure would ask GM before starting an automotive parts business with the name Chevy or Chevrolet in it.

[special-K]

Last time I checked at the Chevrolet(TM) parts counter for parts from 30+ years ago,all I got was either "deleted" or was offered a "suitable replacement" from a later model.About 15 years ago,they said I could still get a 69-72 steering wheel,but only in black.I got all excited and ordered five.Went to pick them up,opened up one box,and said,"what`s this?This one`s wrong!"Then`we saw all PNs were the same.They were all late 80s steering wheels.They were pretty upset when I said I didn`t want them,"I wanted Genuine Chevrolet Parts for a`72,not an`86.Keep`em."
I don`t think any obsolete parts vendor is in the same bussiness as GM.
When I first got my factory-ordered`92 GMC K3500 SRW I was all excited.I felt like a ordered a truck that was a rare model and in time,be comparable to my older rarer trucks(14 years old,now).It`s loaded,yet I got the factory to make an exception and build it in a fleet color,Woodland Green.I`m sure it`s the only truck like it.Anyway,I was doing a job on Green Mountain Circle and thought it would be cool to change my company name to Green Mountain Corporation or Construction and abreviate it to GMC.It doesn`t stand for General Motors Corperation.I always wondered how companies could own initials when they could stand for thousands of words.In my mind,if it`s a totally unrelated business,there`s no relation.Does USA Today own USA?I doubt the founding fathers had the foresight(as ingenious as they were)to trademark those initials.In fact,they probably had the forsight that the initials would be spread freely around the world by anyone that wanted to and would be very proud to see what an icon it has become.On the other hand,I think they`d be ashamed to see what`s become of some corperate interpretations of their work of wonder called The Constitution.

[69_hafton]

"Last time I checked at the Chevrolet(TM) parts counter for parts from 30+ years ago,all I got was either "deleted" or was offered a "suitable replacement" from a later model.

I don`t think any obsolete parts vendor is in the same bussiness as GM."
_________________________________________________________________

For "the longest lasting trucks on the road" you'd think parts wouldn't be obsolete before the vehicle even become considered a "classic" though, would you?

If you don't sell auto parts or use the GMC logo/emblem for your company name I don't think there'd be a problem using the initials G.M.C.? Don't know for sure... but I'd say there are plenty of companies using GMC initials that are within the law? Sounds like a good name for a landscaping/lawn business or something GMC - Green Mountain Circle or better yet Green Mountain Care

[Lippyp]

Land Rover and Rover did this in the UK a few years back, forced all the non franchised specialist that had used Rover and Rover in their business names to change them or they would sue. P*ssed a whole lot of people off, people that had supported their products for years, many of which as you say, were way past being current models and no longer supported by the company themselves. Not that it did the now defunct Rover any good!

[phlegm]

I am sure someone got paid on this one.