Akerson Advocates Opel Adam, Cascada As Buick Models In America
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It’s good to know that we’re not the only ones that can see the Opel Adam mini car and Cascada convertible as Buick models here in North America, as General Motors CEO Dan Akerson also seems to think so.
In an Automotive News report, Akerson was cited as wanting to see these youthful vehicles in Buick showrooms in America (as well as China), but there are a lot of roadblocks that are keeping these moves from happening. The biggest is perhaps the manufacturing costs. As both Opel vehicles are built in Germany, it would be an expensive proposition to import the vehicles — should they not opt to retool a facility here in North America for the project (which would also be expensive). Then there’s the whole cost to get the vehicles approved federally, allowing for their sale in the ‘States.
Still, those same road blocks aren’t stopping the Chevrolet SS from coming over from Australia, so maybe there’s hope.
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Now where would it be cheaper to build these cars for the North American Market? Here or there.
With exchange rates and shipping here is cheaper.
The first Regal’s were only done there as they were not ready here to set the line up and did not want to wait a year. It was moved to Canada as the cost were cheaper.
If it were more profitable they would have continued to import them and as you can see they are no longer importing them. Labor unions are a major issue in Germany right now.
Many Euro companies are now building cars in the old Ex Comunist countries as labor is much cheaper there.
Even companies like Porsche are building cars in places like Bratislava Slovaki.
GM has their hands full in Europe right now as if it were not for the losses by Opel they would be doing so much better than they are. Ford is even taking major hits in their profits from their Euro operations.
I think some people need to get a look at the economy and financial climate of Europe and they will see why things are happening as they are. If it were not for the US and German government many countries there would have defaulted by now. The economies are on the edge and it has many companies nervous.
Right now Fiat is having major money issues right now. It needs to be watched as it will have a major ripple if they have problems.
Anyone note Peugeot and Citroen may now be handed over to GM?
They are not the only ones in trouble in Europe. We even have some major weak players in Asia too.
Development cost and labor cost are staggering and will take many down.
Gri778, I’m not 100% sure, but it seems to me that the year Regal production shifted to Canada , GM also happened to increase the standard features on the car and this increased its price considerably of course.
The Saturn Astra failed in good part because they misread the market for it. They figured the people who would want to buy it would want premium features but not be concerned about performance. So, they decided at least until sales took off (which never happened), they would offer only a higher trim level but not the best engine. This resulted in a Saturn Astra that was expensive and under performing. I thought at the time that this was a bad idea and it would fail. Yep. Now, if they bring over a fairly affordable Adam, though still with decent features, it may sell. And if they bring over a Cascada (and IMO GTC) that can perform decently, still at a reasonable price, those would definitely sell.
According to a note in today’s Mainz “Allgemeine Zeitung” about the content of an interview with Opel CEO and member of GM’s Executive Committee, K.T. Neumann, Neumann rejected in the interview the idea of seeking Opel’s future in China. The fate of this automaker would be decided in Europe.
But exports might help, he added, and disclosed that the management is evaluating the possibilities of exporting more Opel models to China and North America to be sold there under the Buick brand.
Watch this space for news about further growth of Buick with Opel cars…
The full interview is here in three pages.