GM CFO Fritz Henderson and Euro-CEO Carl-Peter Forster have confirmed TTAC’s recent, union-fed suspicions that Vauxhall’s UK factory is facing extinction. The Daily Express reports that Fritz and Pete are using the same extortion tactics on the UK and European governments that proved so . . . lucrative in the U.S.
GM Europe’s chief operating officer Fritz Henderson said that governments across Europe, including the British, should step in immediately with cash to prevent the loss of 300,000 jobs. Mr Henderson said GM Europe needed a £2.9 billion injection to stave off collapse and finance the separation of Vauxhall and Opel from the beleaguered parent company. GM Europe’s chief executive Carl-Peter Forster said the closure of Vauxhall’s plants in Luton and Ellesmere Port on Merseyside would have to be considered if there was no support forthcoming from the Government.
“The next step would be the complete closure. Obviously that’s what we try and avoid. But if we don’t get support from the Government we will have to close down.”
I’m not sure why Vauxhall even still exists. Just another brand they could shed without even skipping a beat. Do they even have a product that is unique from something sold by Opel? I can’t think of one, but I haven’t had my coffee yet. Hell, at least Pontiac has the G8.
When I spent time in Europe, every Vauxhall I saw was just a relabeled Opel. So does this mean they are just going to stop relabeling all the Opels as Vauxhall’s or are they going to actually do something that will save them some cash?
Usually hostage situations involve a third-party; but lately GM has been holding the gun to its own head whilst demanding a ransom. Edit: Hey, I love the new pic :).
golf4me
Vauxhall exists because it is too valuable a brand to shake off. The UK is GM’s most valuable market in Europe (yes, more valuable than Germany), so GM want to do as little as they can to rock that boat.
Too kill the Vauxhall brand would be folly, because UK buyers may be turned off the Opel brand and look elsewhere. GM tried introducing the Opel brand in the 80’s, but people stuck with Vauxhall, instead.
Since Opel doesn’t trade in the UK, there’s no cannibalisation. So as far as I can see, killing the Vauxhall brand can damage GM’s most valuable European market, with zero cost savings. Or they can leave the Vauxhall brand alone and keep all those customers happy.
Agree with Katie. The oft-discussed badge engineering issue isn’t so relevant here, as Vauxhall and Opel don’t co-exist in the same markets.
Is there really any significant design or development work done in the UK by Vauxhall? I kind of think of it as a marketing company really, the Astra plant + Luton notwithstanding.
But if we don’t get support from the Government we will have to close down.
Back, men – he ain’t bluffin’.
@Pat Holliday
If reports are to be believed, then Vauxhall, does call some shots in styling new vehicles.
Is there really any significant design or development work done in the UK by Vauxhall?
Uh, driver controls on the WRONG side? That deserves a name plate change in itself!
:)
But if we don’t get support from the Government we will have to close down.
Back, men – he ain’t bluffin’.
More proof that capitalism is dead, killed by multinational companies and fearful politicians, the very same who should have been its keepers.
Looking for a link to “Dandy” Don Meredith singing “Turn out the lights” at the end of a Monday night game…and giving away my age at the same time.
The threatening manner in which GM has approached governments worldwide should alone be enough for them to turn their backs on the company. In the name of all that the modern, Western world was created upon and is supposed to stand for, LET THEM FAIL. I am a GM fan and a GM owner, but the principal of letting them fail is more important than the worth of my old car. The world will not suffer without them…other brands will step in, take that market share, and rehire the best of the workers GM loses. The best brands (Chevrolet, Cadillac, Opel) and the best talent will not disappear; they will live on in some form or another, hopefully as more nimble and competitive brands.
Thanks for the info, Katie. But, now it makes me think that, say, there is a US state (maybe Arkansas) that is loyal to Pontiac, and GM keeps it around to not piss off a bunch of rednecks who love the brand. The whole of the UK is not that big of a market to begin with, and what is Vauxhall’s standing there? (I honestly don’t know)? If they are not the top-3 selling brand, I say kill it, because I’d think by now, the Brits must realize that they are just buying Opels with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car.?
Keeping with the Blazing Saddles theme, I can almost hear the woman shouting in the background, “Isn’t anybody going to help that poor man?!?!?”
“Be quiet, Harriet! That’s a sure way to get him killed!”
There has been a huge shrinkage in the auto market. The weak companies need to die and the strong survive. Best thing is just to cut these loose.
As several people have pointed out, this is really only a car plant closure issue (in the UK).
Vauxhalls are only rebadged Opels, they do not compete against each other, and Vauxhalls do not have any different styling elements (exterior or exterior. They are exactly the same as their corresponding Opels.
The costs to style the Vauxhall badges and manufacturer them must be in the region of a couple bucks per car!!!
This is pure marketing and blackmail by GM.
Golf4me
Let’s run with your logic. Let’s say the UK DID know they’re buying re-badged Opels….what’s changed?
They’re still driving cars they like with a brand they like and trust.
When Americans buy a Lexus ES, do they know they’re buying an overpriced Camry? More than likely not, but it’s with a brand that people trust.
As for being a top 3 brand, I’m afraid it is. Vauxhall (GM), Ford and Volkswagen (or maybe it’s Renault?) are the top selling brands in the UK. Hence, why GM shouldn’t mess around with it.
Also, to address your analogy of a “US state”, I can see what you’re saying, but again, think logically here, if Arkansas likes the Pontiac, then, chances are, people from Alabama, parts of Texas etc are going to like it.
Whereas in Europe, it’s not a state, it’s a country. The UK are not similar to the French or the Germans…..trust me!
Also, in the US there are, roughly 210million people. Of which, let’s say 50% are adults. That’s means in the United States, there are 105 million people who GM could sell cars to. Now in the UK there are 60 million people. Again, 50 % are adults, which means, there is a potential market of 30 million people in the UK. So for a country which is the size of a US state, GM have about a third of the customers they can get in the United States.
Still think that the UK doesn’t count for much…..?
Now, let’s throw Germany into the mix. Germany has a population of 80 million. Again 50% are adults. Which now means, the UK and Germany together have a potential market of 70 million people. Over 2 thirds of the US market concentrated in 2 countries the size of 2 US states.
P.S. the steering wheel is on the CORRECT side, thank you!
When Americans buy a Lexus ES, do they know they’re buying an overpriced Camry?
Wait. Really? Why doesn’t somebody tell me these things?
The whole of the UK is not that big of a market
A quick Google search for ’08 car sales gives …
US : 11 million
UK : 2.1 million
California : 1.5 million
so I wouldn’t say the UK car market was insignificant.
But Vauxhall is just a badge on an Opel (or vice-versa) and production could probably be shifted easily. After decades of market globalization most people are becoming oblivious as to where the car was made and the nationality of the company
KatiePuckrik: FYI, The US Population is now over 305 million, not 210 million.
http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
John Horner, Katie was referring to the ones that are there legally. :)
Just looked at CNN and it says GM is rattling the bankrupcy sword more vigorously today in an effort to extort more government.
Simply put, that is the single most effective and entertaining picture/story combo that has ever existed on TTAC. Bravo. That leads the to the question: For Sheriff Bart the idiots were the people of Rockridge. Is Europe Rockridge?
The people of Rockridge did finally make amends:
“Ok for the niggers and the chinks. But we DON’T want the Irish!”
No, I think that the real idiots are the people like Hedley Lamarr, or GM in this case. Bob Lutz as Slim Pickens: “Don’t just lay there getting a sun tan! It ain’t gonna do you no good nohow!”
golf4me:
The British can be fooled into thinking a car is British if the British name is kept, so Vauxhall has some value for that purpose.
Many British are still unaware that Morgan is the largest British car manufacturer.
Ironically Vauxhall’s only unique, non-Opel car is the same car as Pontiac’s only unique car, the Holden Commodore.
If your steering wheel is on the right side it means you’re driving on the wrong side.
That scene from “Blazing saddles” has been in my mind throughout this fiasco. Thanks.
Now all we need is Jen Granholm (or the Prez)to step out and shout “Hand over your lupines”.
On Concorde!
Bunter
Perfect picture for this story. Totally cracked me up.
Let’s say the sanity prevails, and GM dies worldwide. Except for GMDaewoo, which GM only owns a minority interest in, and SAIC-GM (China) which GM only owns 50% of.
This means (IRONY ALERT) that in Europe and the UK, the CHEVROLET brand would survive.
As for Vauxhall, if they are smart in Luton, they’ll sign a contract with GMDaewoo and GM-SAIC (China) to supply Vauxhall badged vehicles (certainly not based upon prior Opels/Vauxhalls in all cases, but some might be) in order to continue trading.
Could be a smart move on their part to try to snag the plant in Luton at the bankruptcy sale, too, in order to actually assemble kits from China and South Korea.
At least SOME jobs would be saved.
BTW do the B&B know WHY the British drive on the left? Same reason that the Italians did until Mussolini changed to driving on the right.
It’s because the ROMANS drove on the left. On horseback, with 93% of humans right-handed, it made more sense to have your sword hand free to swing at someone coming down the road being belligerant. You wanted them on your RIGHT. Of course, it worked both ways – you also were on THEIR right…
Interestingly enough, the track width of non-narrow gauge trains in the UK and also the US? It stems from the standardized Roman empire axle width, which had to be standardized since the Romans built good roads to tie together their empire, and the vehicles travelling on these had to be able to fit with 2-way traffic! These measurements were used by carriage makers, and adopted by train makers wholesale!
Weird but true.
BTW, driving on the left makes a LOT of sense if you are smart enough to be able to properly use roundabouts (rotaries/traffic circles).
When coming up to the roundabout, people already ON the roundabout have right-of-way; AND when you drive on the left, these folks with right-of-way are on YOUR right. Standard to give right-of-way to someone on your right, worldwide.
When driving on the right side of the road and approaching a roundabout, it is counterintuitive to give right-of-way to those on the roundabout, because they are on your LEFT.
Of course this matters not for we Americans, 99.9% of whom are totally incapable of driving on roundabouts anyway…
Menno-didn’t know about the sword arm thing.
Was aware of the track width Roman standard but had heard it was the wheel ruts that were the concern rather than passing clearance.
Cheerio,
Bunter
GM Europe has one major disadvantage versus GM in the US: they are by far not the biggest local manufacturer. At the same time, when Opel would disappear other manufacturers would be better off, like VW, Mercedes, BMW, Renault etc. So why should the european governments prop up a failing Opel without a reasonable Business Plan? GM Europe will have to do better …
menno:
I thought it was so knights on horseback could shake (right) hands as they passed. It seems the reason for the US to drive on the left, so that the stronger right hand can be used for manual gear change, seems rather anachronistic now.
And the cart axle width was standardized as two horse butts wide so the wheels followed the ruts. The manufacturers kept the same jigs when the came to build trains and subsequently Lincoln Town Cars.
The sword thing is I believe also why a) the person second in command usually sat on the left (if they wanted to assasinate you and take your job, it was harder to get a good stab in the from that side) and b) why traditionally staircases went clockwise (if you were going up), the defenders were typically coming down the stairs so they’d had have a free (right handed) swing while the attackers mounting the stairs were hindered by an adjacent wall.
What were we talking about?
I thought that the British drive on the left because the French (who had cars before them) drove on the right…..
If GME closed their UK plants they could retain the Vauxhall brand by just changing the badge from the Opel one. As has been pointed out – the only differences between the Opels and Vauxhalls is the brand name. The real worry for GME (and Ford and others)regarding the UK is the currency. Building in Euros and selling in Pounds – have you seen where the pound is vs the Euro in the last 12 months?
menno:
Roundabouts work with driving on the right as well (why shouldn’t it)…Driving on the left makes no sense at all, you shift with your left hand which is absolutely counter intuitive. But more importantly, here in Europe, you usually have to give way to the vehicle coming from the right (unless specified otherwise). In principle this is a great way of dealing with traffic, much better than the four stop signs that are common on smaller US-intersections. However, when you’re driving on the left, you have another lane between yourself and the street coming from the right which again is counter intuitive and also dangerous because as soon as another car comes down that lane, the whole system doesn’t work anymore.
sitting@home-I’ve read that when America broke away from England they flipped a number of conventions like which side of the road they drove on and the direction in which horse races were run (CCW vs CW).
Bunter
-katie
When Americans buy a Lexus ES, do they know they’re buying an overpriced Camry? More than likely not, but it’s with a brand that people trust.
When I purchased an ES a few years ago, I did know, for one, that it shares the Camry platform. The Lex shares 70% of the parts with the Camry but I see that as an advantage over Mercedes or Jag say.
It means that the cost of R & D on those parts has already been well financed and amortised on the manufacture of 400k Camrys that year. Costly research on parts that may not be visible, and for that matter on things most consumers don’t care too much about, and yet Lexus owners get the benefit of all that development and testing for free.
I noticed the ES was one of the few models that Lexus wasn’t marketing in England at the time, so unless things have changed I can assume your test drive was here in NA ? Well, FYI the Lexus ES has multi-link suspension which gives it an outstanding handling ability. A Camry on the other hand has noticeable body roll when turning a corner, the absence of which is the first thing you should notice if you took an ES for a spin.
More than that they also have the same base engine as the V6 Camry but with some performance tweaks which you won’t see on the Camry.
My first english car was an off lease Vauxhall Victor 101 and I have to say that it spent a lot of time in the shop. Consequently when I came to NA and discovered that Vauxhall was GM’s marque in Britain I made sure to avoid GM vehicles like the plague.
Today, Brits dub the current Vauxhall Astra as the “Ashtray” which must tell you something.
That aside if any car company needs to be preserved in the UK it would be our Ford transplant. Having driven a couple, I have completely different memories with the Escort 1300cc sedan. Of course in the genius of Ford marketing, you couldn’t get them here in Canada. Although Volkswagen had no problem shipping a gazillion of their Beetles from their Wolfsburg plant, getting German made Ford Escorts over here – fat chance.
Escort was totally different animal from Vauxhalls offerings. They were fast with top speeds above 100mph I can say, from experience, and bulletproof, never saw the inside of a garage while I was driving them.
My fear is that people don’t see any problem in giving taxpayer’s money (or from taxes paid by successful companies) to large failing corporations under the guise of saving jobs. Governments propping up these businesses have turned them into giant ponzi schemes. My reality check is that there is no shortage of cars. Cars are better built than they have ever been we just don’t need to replace them as often. The industry has been bloated by easy credit. We need to shutter these plants for six months while we work out how many cars we really should be building. Put the line workers on unemployment assistance, that is what it’s there for – to prevent social dislocations (pitchforks and firebrand time) and the financial impact that occurs when elephant sized institutions such as auto -loan companies miscalculate lease residuals and end up rolling over their clients. In fact we need more government oversight on captive auto-loan companies who are incentitized to move the “IRON” in favo(u)r of good fiscal judgement.
Back to you Katie
T2
There is hardly any costsaving by killing Vauxhall as advertising is hardly pan-european.
ps. There are differences between an lefthanded Opel (as sold in Ireland & Malta) and a lefthanded Vauxhall. The bonnet is different on some models.
The reason for driving on the left is obvious if you have ever spent any time around horses – for a right-handed person, the natural way to mount a horse is from the left. Also, the slight differences in control movements made by a right-handed rider tend to move the horse to the left.
The first Country to adopt using the right hand side of the carriageway was France under Napoleon Bonaparte.
Face it, you stripey and starry Colonial types are just aping the cheese-eating surrender monkeys…