Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has delivered 2,133 Chevrolets to the UK aboard its PCTC M/V Tijuca. The vehicles were offloaded at Portbury, Bristol and included the first customer-ordered Cruze models for the UK market, ready for debut in dealerships this month.
The Tijuca began service this year and is the biggest ship ever to bring Chevrolet cars to the UK. It has five separate loading decks and the ability to carry up to 8,000 cars. (Read more here)
“We’re thrilled to see such a large batch of cars arriving here,” said Chevrolet Managing Director, Mark Terry. “We’ve seen demand grow massively with three successive months of sales increases, and our stock levels were lower than normal as a result.”
The delivery brings the number of Chevrolet’s delivered to the UK since June 15 by WWL to 3,525.
Over half of the Chevrolets on board the latest arrival were vehicles that have already been sold to customers while the remaining 1,000 were to ensure stock levels keep up with current levels of demand.
Popularity for the Cruze will come as some compensation to its manufacturer GM Daewoo, which lost $702m in 2008 and saw sales drop off by nearly half, to 261,000 vehicles, in the first six months of this year.
WWL, which has also been affected by the economic downturn, has had some good news recently as it celebrates its tenth anniversary this month. Last month it also received a Silver Achiever award from Ford at the 11th Annual Ford World Excellence Awards. WWL was the only ocean carrier recognised at the ceremony.
