Chevy Wants to Be Like Apple -- and Now Disney Too

General Motors CEO Joel Ewanick has generated both praise and smirks by going public recently with the idea that Chevy should emulate Apple. But that worthy goal may not be as far-fetched as some allege.

It turns out that Apple isn't the only premier consumer brand inspiring Chevy these days. The brand and its dealers also are "partnering with [Walt] Disney around the customer experience," Alan Batey, Chevy's vice president of U.S. sales and service, told brandchannel. Chevrolet sales execs and a select group of 50 dealers just concluded a two-day leadership conference under the famous tutelage of Disney brand experts in Orlando, where the automotive folks learned -- as many thousands have done at Disney seminars before them -- how to spread figurative pixie dust over everything they do, particularly when it comes to actually retailing Chevy vehicles.

Of course, there should be a big cache of institutional memory at GM about how to give the customer winning treatment, drawn from the signature achievement of Saturn, which really did create a unique dealership culture within the U.S. auto industry before giving up the brand ghost a couple of years ago. But Batey said that Disney offers uniquely valuable expertise. "We can learn a lot of important things from someone who's a leader outside our industry," he said. Any company that, like Disney, can demonstrate more than 70 percent repeat customers among the legions who visit its parks each day should have worthy things to share. "I'd take that for sure -- even anything north of 50 percent" repeat customers for Chevy, Batey allowed.

Satisfying customers in new ways also is behind Ewanick's remarks at a recent GM conference. "It's time to clearly differentiate our brand and align closer to a true global brand, like an Apple," he said. And while Ewanick encountered immediate skepticism -- the difference between Apple and Chevy is easy to see at the moment -- GM does have some things going for Chevy in pursuit of that goal. Like Apple, Chevrolet certainly is iconic. And while no other product is the iPhone, Chevrolet is taking some bold chances with new products like the Volt plug-in hybrid that could, in their own way, eventually "create" consumer "needs" like Apple. Other automakers are doing all-electric vehicles, but so far Chevy has come up with the best EV-based product for the real world.

And if Ewanick doesn't set his sights on becoming an automotive Apple, he knows who will: rivals. Ford, for instance, already has a leg up on Chevy in the increasingly important arena of in-vehicle connectivity. And Ewanick's CMO counterpart at Ford, Jim Farley, also has been talking about what Ford can learn from Apple and other consumer-electronics brands.

So they're both shooting high. Would critics rather the auto industry aspire to become the next BlackBerry?