Opel Seeks Hybrid Powertrain Partner
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Reports have begun surfacing that GM’s Opel division (Vauxhall, too) is seeking a partner to develop future hybrid vehicles. In doing so, the move would thin out development costs, while combining resources.
According to Opel boss Karl-Friedrich Stracke, the need for a partnership has arisen from European legislation that calls for automakers to sell vehicles that emit 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer or less.
“We need hybrid technology starting with compact cars and upwards,” Stracke said. “Hybrid technology is becoming increasingly more important. We are not holding any concrete talks but a cooperation would be certainly a good way to cut costs.”
The recently-appointed Opel CEO hopes that the brand’s only battery-powered vehicle — the Detroit-Hamtramck-built Ampera — will sell around 12,000 units or so in 2012.
Source: Reuters
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Why is Opel seeking a partner for hybrid tech instead of GM? Opel has a teensy volume compared to the whole of GM, even if you factor in Buick and the Opel-Buick “symbiosis.” What’s going to happen if Opel does find a hybrid partner is that it will push itself further from GM, making its vehicles less GM-standards-based. This will also happen to Buick down the road. And since neither Buick, Opel, or both make up enough volume to truly produce a relevant hybrid technology, both brands will end up losing out to such volume leaders as Toyota and Ford… at least when it comes to hybrids. Dumb.
You’re just looking at the spin on things. Because Stracke brought it up in a German publication, Reuters assumes that it’s only Opel/GM Europe seeking a partner and that it’s only European mandates pushing for such a thing.
Let’s hope you’re right!