Badge engineering, a term used during the darker days of General Motors when a vehicle was simply ushered into one of the many GM brands with a simple rebadge, and no proper positioning. Think Chevrolet Cobalt, Pontiac G5, Chevrolet Aveo, Pontiac G3.
But, those days are over, and new GM understand each brand needs to speak a certain message with its product. Specifically, this is true when comparing European automotive tastes to Australian wants and needs. And Opel CEO, Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, understands that, offering up a few nuggets of information on Opel’s future ties with Holden.
“[The cars] will be retargeted for the Australian market. There will be engineering work done on them to fulfil the specific expectations which the Australian customers have and which fits to the Holden brand, so we will fine tune the drive and feel of the car … and the feature selection of the car,” he told Drive.
He expanded on the topic by saying future Opels would use “group technologies,” meaning platforms, engines and more, but Holden engineers would be responsible for engineering the car and tuning the vehicle for local consumers’ tastes.
Nearly one-third of future Holdens will be sourced from Opel, with other products being sourced from the U.S. and Korea.
Comment
Drive tune and handling was always done as part of badge engineering. That’s what made a Pontiac Grand Prix feel different from a Buick Century.
Even the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice have unique suspension tunings. Don’t believe me? Take a pothole in a base Solstice, and then take it again in a base Sky. I have.
Engine differences are another example, which is why a Monza V8 might be Holden-only. It wouldn’t fare well in Europe on their tax system, and a TTV6 would help a Buick Grand National skip the gas guzzler tax (while still leaving room for a V8 GNX).
But none of that is new, and all of that is part and parcel of badge engineering.
Opel is trying to re-define badge engineering. Nobody’s buying it.