General Motors has been hard at work to return its European division, Opel-Vauxhall, to profitability in 2016. While some GM brass says it’s likely, others says it may not be secure. Where profitability comes from is a universally agreed upon market strategy, something former Vauxhall Managing Director, Tim Tozer, reportedly didn’t agree with, according to Just Auto.
Tozer abruptly left his position with Vauxhall on September 23, effective immediately, sending shock through Vauxhall. Tozer was recently on hand for the launch of the 2016 Opel-Vauxhall Astra.
Tozer reportedly disagreed with GM Europe’s volume targets in the United Kingdom, Vauxhall’s only market. The strategy demanded higher volume from the Vauxhall brand, turning against Tozer’s ideals to gruadually build Vauxhall, heighten its image and raise margins as part of a long-term strategy.
He reportedly dismissed the idea of short-term targets to dilute the long-term strategy, where disagreements came to a tipping point the evening before his resignation.
The story comes after rumors began to swirl over a possible Vauxhall involvement in the large-scale “dieselgate” scandal that has plagued Volkswagen Group as of recent, as more automakers head to the investigation list.
Tozer will be replaced by Rory Harvey, former Opel Executive Director of Sales.
Comments
Ahh GM Hierarchy they truly are clueless. I understand why he left. GM used to be a great company, but the bankruptcy, obama delegating how to run GM. It just isn’t as good as it once was. I don’t miss selling GM vehicles. Almost 40 years. GM is no longer the innovator it was but now it waits and then follows the other manufactures. It is sad truly sad.
They lost a man who knows how to build a lasting brand awareness…this is not an overnite , one year down the road short term project . Your Honda Civic , Toyota Corolla , etc grew their reputation and resulting top sales within the compact size catagory by years of patient refining and building customer satisfaction . Like all good men with a true vision , Tim Tozer will be gamely re-employed soon , I expect !
Vauxhall has been going in the right direction of late so it is a worry that some of that might be lost.
OK the link with Opel has had many, many good points and it is hard to imagine in this day and age that Vauxhall could have its own entirely separate range of cars. But loosening the strings from Opel juts a bit could do the brand some good. I was delighted when they called the Opel Karl the Vauxhall Viva for the UK market – not only an established name from Vauxhall’s past but a very Vauxhall sounding name, like the Cresta, Velox, Viscount, Royale etc, they were less generic and less European. I understand why the Opel cars have to have to a degree generic names to sell across Europe but in the UK for example the Cavalier name carried far more weight than the subsequent Vectra name did.
How about a) let Vauxhall name its new cars itself and not be tied into Opel’s naming structure just like Buick does with its Opel derived models and b) let Vauxhall import into the UK other non-Opel GM models where there is a market for this, the way Holden is able to, and rebadge / respecify them as Vauxhalls.
By keeping Vauxhall as ‘Opel-in-Britain’ I think GM is missing a trick. This isn’t an anti-Opel rant by the way folks, that’s not what I’m on about. I just think GM could do more with Vauxhall and build on its recent success that’s all.
A “Vauxhall Karl” would have been impossible, and a translation to “Vauxhall Charles” even more.
As to “Vectra” — I think all those names ending on “tra” are a Vauxhall tradition. As one step of the consolidation of Opel and Vauxhall product lines, the Opel Kadett got the name wich Vauxhall was using all the time – Astra. And frankly, I liked the “Vectra” much more than the “Insignia” — a name with has a meaning, but not in the German language, and has, with four syillabes, two syllabes too much. Bad name, in my view.
Now with Karl and Viva, the model names part to different shores again…