Recently, Opel’s boss Nick Reilly was asked by the Süddeutschen Zeitung how long it could be before GM’s top management decides that it doesn’t want to rescue its European division Opel after all. His answer [via Autobild]:
It’s not a question of two years, but rather six or nine months, before we need to have proven that we’ve made positive progress
Even then, Reilly admits that
We need four to five years before we’re able to get back to where we were
That doesn’t sound so good, does it?
Meanwhile, there’s no sign that the positive progress Reilly needs to prove is even underway: in a German market that’s been battered (down 28.7 percent in the first half) by the end of the world’s largest Cash-for-Clunker program, Opel’s sales are down 39.7 percent compared to the first half of 2009.By brand, Opel has even fallen behind Mercedes and BMW in the German market, as full-sized sedan sales grow faster there than smaller, cheaper model sales. Meanwhile, a five-door Opel Astra won’t arrive until later this year, and the new Meriva isn’t looking likely to provide Opel with a needed short-term sales boost. Farther out, Opel is largely focusing on an A-segment city car and a possible coupe variant of the Insignia. In other words, nothing that’s going to turn the ship around. But even as Opel withers in Europe, Buick is making gains in the US and China by rebadging Opel’s vehicles. Which means something has to be done: either Opel needs a huge investment from GM, or the company risks becoming little more than a development outpost for GM… or worse.
Opel ist zu groß zum Scheitern verurteilt.
Sind Sie sarkastisch?
Sehr lustig!
“Meanwhile, a five-door Opel Astra won’t arrive until later this year”
Huh? It’s on the Opel.de website and the UK has been selling them for a few months now. Obviously, we call it Vauxhall…..
Must be the Station Wagon Ed is talking about. This had a market share of well above 50% within the previous Astra generation and therefore is missed badly.
So I should get my Ruesselsheim-based Regal now before Opel fades away??
or a Saturn Aura
How much of our tax money has gone to Opel in the last year? Anyone know? If GM lets Opel die, do we get a refund for that wasted money?
And could GM just let Opel die, then start selling Chevy’s and Buick’s in Europe?
Yes. Two Buicks and five Chevys per year.
I went into the Opel dealership the day before yesterday and it was quite busy. The Chevrolet/Chrysler dealer down the road was not.
This will be interesting to see how it plays out. But, it is also interesting that we don’t hear of any metrics for them to be measured by. In all seriousness, corporations don’t always make something black or white, they find ways to justify their actions, the metrics of why it will stay or go will come later. It will be interesting to see what happens here.
If I were in GM’s executive management team I would find it hard at this point to justify spending billions to try and turn Opel around. Opel’s core markets are low to slow growth ones. GM already owns all of Opel’s intellectual property, so presumably they could just electronically shoot all of the plans and documentation to other GM development centers around the world, transfer some key engineers and perhaps even keep a design studio or two open whilst letting Opel proper fall into whatever the European equivalent of bankruptcy court is.
Two years ago Opel was still worth turning around, but now?
A lot of bullshit
Look here
http://www.jato.com/PressReleases/German%20Losses%20Play%20Central%20Role%20in%20European%20New%20Car%20Sales.pdf
Opel/Vauxhall is on third place in Europe and Astra, Corsa are number 2 and 3 in top 10 models.
“Meanwhile, a five-door Opel Astra won’t arrive until later this year, and the new Meriva isn’t looking likely to provide Opel with a needed short-term sales boost.”
Yeah right, that’s why I see:
– five-door Astra’s on the street driving and getting very good reviews in magazines. Probably you mean three-door Astra’s.
– the new Meriva being discussed in every auto magazine in Europe and getting very good reviews for space en finish. Yesterday I read a review where it was compared to a Renault Scénic and won the review. Mind you: the Scénic is the best seller in a class above the Meriva (+3.000€). The old Meriva sold very well and the new Meriva will sell even better.
Btw, almost everybody’s planning an A-segment city car in Europa. Those CO2 regulations in Europe and increasing congestion are killing larger cars. Indeed, margins for such a car are small, but there is still money to be made.
Talking about my home town of 30,000 somewhere in the middle of nowhere (somewhere in the middle of Germany, of course), there are 2 current generation Astras on the road that I have seen, compared to 25+ current generation VW Golfs.
OK, so the Golf has been introduced in late 2008 and the Astra has been introduced in late 2009, but still, someone should have been able to pick one up by now.
And the new Meriva, there´s two of them registered on the local dealer for test drives for the last 8 weeks, none sold so far.
I am not impressed.
VW: “Das Auto.”
Opel: “Das Ende.”
:-D
on a serious note now, doesnt opel aready have an a-class competitor, the opel agila? that’s relatively new.
why develop another one? (well yes, agila aint selling alot, but still…)
Bertel, you better take the wheel on Opel-storys, Edward is obviously confused.