Avalanche Ultimate Challenge Tour "Hits The Road"

The "Avalanche Ultimate Challenge Tour" hits the road from June through October, visiting 10 major cities to showcase Chevy's all-new truck to consumers, demonstrate its features and benefits and challenge display visitors to test their skills at a specially designed 28-foot tall rock climbing wall.

"We debuted a concept version of the Avalanche at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this past January," said Ed Schoener, Chevrolet Avalanche brand manager. "At that time, we showed consumers how it's the only vehicle that can reconfigure from six-passenger seating to a vehicle with an eight-foot cargo bed in seconds.

"Since then, we've been overwhelmed by consumer interest. In fact, we've recorded more than one-and-a-half million hits on our Avalanche website since January. This level of interest proved to us that America wants to see more of this truck now. So we're taking the first-ever production version of the Avalanche right to them."

Avalanche begins production in the first quarter of calendar year 2001 and the "Ultimate Challenge Tour" gives consumers an excellent opportunity to see it before they arrive in Chevy dealerships next Spring. And, as Avalanche prospects are targeted to be active, athletic and outdoors-oriented, the Tour also includes a specially constructed rock climbing wall that attendees are invited to scale for fun.

Manning the display are Avalanche Product Specialists who not only present facts, features and answer questions about the truck - they are also highly skilled rock climbers who help visitors climb safely.

Local celebrities can also use the wall for "challenge matches" to climb for charity. And the national charity selected for the Tour is Students Against Violence Everywhere (S.A.V.E.). S.A.V.E. is a non-profit organization coordinated by the Center for the Prevention of School Violence, headquartered in Raleigh N.C. S.A.V.E. was created by students to help their fellow students across the United States and Canada prevent violence in school systems through peer mediation, community service and role modeling. Today, there are more than 62,500 registered members in 28 states.

A second Tour -- titled "The Avalanche Ultimate Utility Vehicle Tour" - will travel to an additional 14 cities, featuring the concept Avalanche Auto Show Truck, product specialists and a video presentation outlining all of Avalanche's innovative features. Both tours will visit state fairs, concerts, sporting events and other high visibility locales.

"Based on the reaction of millions of consumers, we just couldn't keep Avalanche under wraps until next year," Schoener said. "People want to know more about how the Convert-a-Cab SystemTM and the MidgateTM works, how quickly you can go from carrying people to carrying cargo and much more. These tours give consumers the full Avalanche story and let them have some fun at the same time."