Remember when we told you that GM’s E-Flex EREVs (the Volt, by any other name) would be sold strictly as Opels and Vauxhalls in Europe? The decision made sense; Euro-market Chevrolets are little more than rebadged Daewoos, and the E-Flex price point (which should be truly colon-clenching when it gets to Europe) just won’t play in that sales environment. Well, GM can make all the sense in the world when it wants, but that doesn’t mean it won’t go back on its own arguments a few short weeks later. Reuters reports that GM Europe honcho Carl-Peter Forster told a Berlin auto conference “We are investing an enormous amount. We will launch these cars in Europe, both as Opel and as Chevrolet, in around three years.” And there you have it. While GM fights hard to bring Opel upmarket, trumpeting the “democratization of technology” that the revitalized brand will bring about, it’s undercutting that vision by also offering a Chevy Volt in Europe. Europeans do not typically think “American Classic” when they think of Chevrolet. They think “horrendous Korean shitbox slapped together by drunken Slavs.” Why would GM Europe expect anyone to shell out a huge amount of money for that? And while we’re on the subject, why wasn’t the Volt initially conceived as, say, a Cadillac? Keep in mind we’re talking about a car that is likely to cost $40k or more. In America that’s a stretch for a Chevy, in Europe it’s suicide.
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Be careful about insulting the “slavs”. The Czechs at least seem to make brilliant cars. Skoda has built a repuatation for putting together ultra solid, reliable cars at a good price. They keep being at the top in reliability surveys, year after year, which is more than you can say about their parent company.
I won’t even talk about the Koreans, you already gave the Genesis it’s due.
Actually, taking all this into consideration, it only proves GM can manage to find the worst of everything…
Nothing about the Volt has been well planned since its inception, just like nothing at Chevy has been well planned in several decades.
I’m not entirely convinced that this wasn’t some sort of slip of the tongue. Not that I’m making excuses or anything, but anyone can see that having a Lacetti sitting in the same showroom as a Volt isn’t a good idea.
[sarcasm]I have to agree … the Korean cars have better a better overall quality than the American cars. It would totally ruin the Chevy Image in Europe.[/sarcasm]
You can leave those sarcasm quotes behind as it is the truth.
ps. Will the European Cruze be build in Korea or America.
If the volt arrives on time and is actually decent(unlikely I know) a premium price doesn’t seem totally ridiculous no matter what the badge on the hood. People are paying a Prius premium at the moment.
Europeans can distingush between American and Korean Chevys, its not hard. “drunken slavs” just seems lazy, is that prejudice Mr Niedermeyer’s?
Even if the Volt somehow manages to be a decent car, you have the problem of what is, too often. an underwhelming dealer experience.
To clarify, I was trying to characterize my impression of typical European stereotypes. I lived in Austria for a year, so I tend to think of Europeans as being relatively more xenophobic than Americans. Maybe because the Slavs I would go drinking with told me about how anti-foreigner Austrians could be. On the other hand, I am an American who rarely thinks “American Classic” when I think of Chevy, so I guess the rhetorical device is flawed on a couple of levels.
I stand by the point that a Chevy-branded E-Flex doesn’t make much sense in Europe. Perhaps some of our European readers could weigh in on how Chevy is perceived there.
Chevrolet = new name of Daewoo, Korean and i didn’t realized that they had an Eastern European plant.
American cars = Big but with a small, plastic interior and using prehistoric technology. Fuel use is 1 l/km and they are mostly driven by people who got their money easy like pimps. They are also badly styled.
ps. Are you sure about Chevrolet making cars in Europe