Up to now. GM saw a limited, Europe-only role for Opel. That’s pretty much a death knell. No serious brand can survive on Europe alone. With the weak Euro, it would be utter stupidity to try to survive on Europe alone. Finally, this fact dawned on GM. Opel now received the o.k. to expand into markets outside of Europe. You probably can guess which markets they have in mind. (Read More…)
In the wake of GM re-taking full control of Opel, Opel’s former boss Hans Demant stepped down to make room for Nick Reilly. Demant’s new title was GM Vice President, Global Intellectual Property Rights. His job was described as being “responsible for protecting GM’s property rights globally, for example in conjunction with business alliances, partnerships and transactions.”
That job is the GM equivalent of keeping track of the Willow Ptarmigan, Common Ravens, and Snow Buntings population of Nome Alaska. It comes as no surprise that Demand quit. At age 59, he could have taken early retirement. Instead, he took a job with the competition. (Read More…)
We are not even considering abandoning our campaign. Like every guarantee offer, ours also has conditions and these conditions are presented very clearly.
Opel’s sales and marketing boss Alain Visser fires back at Germany’s Wettbewerbszentrale (competition authority), which recently accused Opel of misleading consumers with its newly-launched “Lifetime Guaranty.” The Wettbewerbzentrale had argued that Opel’s warranty was “a lie” because, despite having no time limit, it only applies for the first 160,000 kilometers… which by definition is less than a car’s lifetime, right? According to Opel’s Visser [via Automotive News [sub]], that might not be the case.
As Europe moves towards ever more premium subcompact cars, Opel has sought to hop on the bandwagon by giving its Corsa-based Meriva Micro-MPV stylish suicide doors. And with Buick moving towards simple rebadges of Opel’s product, the suicide-doored Meriva seems almost certain to arrive stateside as the so-called “Baby Enclave” MPV, expected to debut in the US market in 2012. There’s little doubt of the suicide door concept’s gimmick value, and we’ve said before that this factor alone could get Americans excited about the first-ever Buick subcompact… but just how much of a difference do the rear-hinged doors make in real life? According to the first German-market comparison test (by Auto Motor und Sport print edition), the Meriva’s suicide doors are still just a gimmick.
We object to the misleading, eye-catching advertisement, because contrary to the grandiose statement made in it, Opel is not actually offering a ‘lifetime’ guarantee
Reiner Münker of the German Wettbewerbszentrale (Center for Protection against Unfair Competition) lays into Opel’s recently-announced “lifetime guarantee” in the Wall Street Journal [sub]. Münker continues
In competition law, there’s a principle that forbids any marketing statement that contains objective untruth. Statements that are a “lie” at first glance can not be “clarified” with an asterisk or be made relative. We don’t reject the notion that this car guaranty is different from those offered by other manufacturers. But the misleading title “lifelong,” which suggests an unbeatable advantage over the competition, has no place in advertising.
And considering that the Opel warranty is limited to 160k kilometers, that seems like a fair conclusion. Unless of course Opel is admitting that its cars are literally not designed to go more than that distance. Either way, Opel’s major brand-building effort is not off to a good start.
Reuters [via ABC] reports that GM has completed its S1 filing and will file Monday, after a Friday the 13th filing was delayed in order to
add a management risk factor after Chief Executive Ed Whitacre announced on Thursday he would step down and be succeeded by Dan Akerson effective September.
And that won’t be the only “risk factor” warning to investors in GM’s S-1. Bloomberg found a number of analysts ready to support the headline
GM’s Akerson to Struggle in Proving to IPO Investors Europe Fixable
Any bets on the number of times the word “Opel” appears in tomorrow’s filing?
If you are under water with your car, will any friendly GM dealer bail you out? Of course. If you live in what was formerly called “East Germany.” (Read More…)
Hush. Don’t tell American GM customers how GM’s Opel subsidiary plans to prop up seriously flagging sales. Opel can use a serious injection of something. Opel’s German sales were down by 43.5 percent in July. And Opel doesn’t have China to save their necks. Today, Opel announced their version of the Ardennen-Offensive: A last massive strike at the hearts and minds (and pocketbooks) of their customers. A warranty for life. As they say: Read the fine print. (Read More…)
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?
After North America and China, we have other markets in our sights. Buick has no plans for Europe at this moment, but that could change.
GM’s Jim Federico spills possible plans for a Buick expansion to Auto Motor und Sport.
If you go back for what seems to be years, TTAC never gave Opel big odds for getting state aid. Ever since GM reneged on the Magna deal, their chances were pretty much nil. Since then, the German government had been subjecting Opel to water torture. A few days ago, Berlin made it obvious. They had to, because GM was like a psychiatric patient that was slowly going through all stages of the Kübler-Ross model: Denial (“They said they would help us”), anger (“Maybe this will make your chancellor happy”), bargaining, depression, now finally, acceptance. Today, GM and Opel officially threw in the towel. Opel officially gave up on state aid. They will turn to the entity that supposedly wasn’t allowed to help them: The GM mother-ship. In other words: You and me will pay to save Opel.
Of course, GM didn’t just cry uncle. (Read More…)
We knew it would be one of Angela’s feel good meetings. Careful parsing of her statement yesterday gave the clues: “I will do everything so that the employees who were pushing for the preservation of Opel receive all possible help and support we have at our disposal.” Angela hadn’t promised help for Opel. She promised to do what she can to cushion the blow to the Opel workers. Anyway, Frau Merkel met with the Premiers of the Opel states, only to tell them that the decision stands: (Read More…)
Yesterday, as predicted by TTAC on many occasions, Germany’s Economics Minister Rainer Brüderle denied state aid for Opel. Even before the announcement, his boss Angela Merkel called a pow-wow of the premiers of the Opel states to find out what can and should be done now. The pow-wow will take place today. Yesterday’s statements by Brüderle and his boss are quite telling. Here they are, unedited (German version courtesy of Automobilwoche [sub], translation by yours truly.) (Read More…)
So today’s the day when the fate of Opel was to be decided – according to plan. The committee met today – and decided to decide nothing. They couldn’t come to a conclusion. They handed the decision to Minister Brüderle. Brüderle’s decision: Nein. No government money to Opel, reports Focus. There still is a glimmer of hope for Opel … (Read More…)
On Wednesday, June 9 2010, the German government will decide whether they’ll grant Opel live support. Or whether Berlin gives Opel a pat on the head and best wishes for their future endeavors. That’s the current plan, says Die Zeit, based on reports by the German wire service DPA. Plans can change, as they did in the past.
It looks grim for Opel. (Read More…)
Recent Comments