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GM Authority

Facts, Figures, And Intricacies Regarding GM’s Decision To Withdraw Chevrolet From Europe

As General Motors’ decision to discontinue offering mainstream Chevrolet vehicles in Europe begins to settle, some facts and numbers are beginning to emerge surrounding the decision.

For starters, the development marks a sharp reversal in GM’s global Chevrolet strategy, where The Bow Tie brand was meant to be The General’s globally-available volume brand. It is worth noting that Chevrolet won’t disappear from Europe entirely, as it will continue selling cars like the Corvette:

“For Chevrolet, it will allow us to focus our investments where the opportunity for growth is greatest”, said GM CEO Dan Akerson.

Breaking Even

Even then, Chevy’s sales volume is likely to diminish even further from the already-minuscule sales numbers it has been posting in Europe before the announcement. Even so, Chevrolet’s withdrawal will not affect GM’s plans to break even in Europe by mid-decade. Sadly, however, GM has posted losses in Europe every year so far this century, including $499 million in the period from January 2013 to September 2013, an improvement from the $1.2 billion lost during the same time period in 2012.

Pulling Chevrolet out of Europe will result in the automaker recording net special charges between $700 million and $1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013, with the amounts including a $300 million in non-cash charges. In addition, GM mentioned that it will “incur restructuring costs related to these actions” that will reduce the earnings of its International Operations (GMIO) unit in 2014. Given that GM Korea is part of GMIO, something tells us that GM Korea will be negatively impacted.

Sales Hurt

Illustrating the disparity between Opel-Vauxhall and Chevrolet in the region are the following sales numbers: Chevrolet sales in Europe fell 18 percent through October 2013 to 121,621 units, while Opel-Vauxhall sales dropped 3 percent to 702,481 units. According to GM, the reason behind GM’s decision to drop Chevy in Europe is that it competed directly with Opel-Vauxhall in the mainstream segment.

By removing Chevrolet, GM supposedly clears the way for Opel to be more successful. However, there is an argument to be made that the paltry 121,621 Chevy sales in Europe didn’t prevent Opel from being successful in the first place, and that by dropping mainstream models from the Chevy lineup in Europe, GM will lose (most of) those sales to the competition.

Korean Tussles

Notably, the greater majority of Chevrolets sold in Europe are built in GM’s plants in South Korea — an area where General Motors has been in active (and sometimes non-fortuitous) negotiations with unions. Given that Chevys built in Korea will no longer be exported to Europe, GM will likely need to trim Korean production output, but the automaker has yet to comment on whether it plans on closing any plants, or making changes to production shifts, as a result.

GM did, however, say in a news release that it would “increase its focus on driving profitability, managing costs and maximizing sales opportunities in its Korean operations as the company looks for new ways to improve business results in the fast-changing and highly competitive global business environment.”

Russian Polarities

And now for some irony: GM will continue selling Chevrolet vehicles alongside Opels in Russia. That’s because both Opel and Chevrolet brands are strong in the country, and are seen as distinctly separate with their own intrinsic values.

Manchester United

Some more irony: GM will continue its seven-year $600 million sponsorship agreement with European soccer club Manchester United to promote Chevrolet. Supposedly, this is thanks to the team’s strong following in the Chinese market, where Chevy is attempting to grow sales. The biggest part of the sponsorship will come in a year, as the Chevrolet logo will be featured on the Manchester United shirts for the 2014/2015 season.

The GM Authority Take

GM has tried to succeed in Europe by offering both, Opel-Vauxhall and Chevrolet. In doing so, it hasn’t necessarily failed, but it didn’t achieve stellar success, either, likely thanks to the terrible reputation GM bestowed upon Chevrolet in the region by selling rebadged Daewoos in the 90s and early 2000s.

All that is to say, let’s see if The General will be able to succeed in Europe with just Opel-Vauxhall… and Cadillac, of course.

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Comments

  1. Chevrolet is a volume brand and Opel was moved to a more luxurious segment as Buick. GM should let Chevy in Europe and do more advertising especially to proof that its cars are the best in category. Chevy should be sold everywhere.

    Reply
    1. Yes and make the popular cars (like Cruze , Spark and Aveo) in Poland or Germany so customers don’t have to wait for 6 month after the new car they ordered.

      Reply
  2. Oh no lets not let the facts get in the way here. It may just point out the truth to what happened. And many just can’t handle the truth.

    Reply
    1. The point is , it will not save Opel , and customers like me don’t gone buy an other GM car anymore in the future…

      Reply
  3. Now Vauxhall and opel zero excuses! They need to make a profit! If they don’t then maybe GM is planning on doing to opel and Vauxhall what they are doing to holden taking away their factories and then their brands and replacing them with another GM brand!

    Something has got to change GM can not continue to lose money in Europe and Australia, they are fixing the problem in Australia now we have to wait to see if Europe has to be fixed

    Reply
  4. @MohChevy

    “Opel was moved to a more luxurious segment as Buick.”

    No that’s simply wrong…

    Reply
  5. What’s wrong

    Reply
  6. Opel will still be able to be more like Buick with some models but they will also be able to sell the lower end cars that are cheaper too.

    VW has used this approach as they can sell a gutted down Golf Cheap or even their off brands like Seat but still offer higher end cars like Phaeton.

    GM can closely model Opel after this but they need to take care to learn from the mistakes VW made. Also sharing the higher end models with Buick and China it will take some of the burden of development cost off of them.

    See this is where changing Opel was difficult as they were changing the entire company and line up. In Holden’s case you are only changing some trim and name in a more open thinking market.

    Too many focus on the big things when it all comes down to the details and money.

    Reply
  7. I think that GM should immediately announce that they will continue selling big Chevys in Europe.

    Reply
    1. Well they still will sell the Camaro’s and Corvette’s to the one’s that can afford them , even if I had the money to buy one I could not cover the Co2 taxes and annual road taxes and I don’t even mention the gas prices ….

      Reply
  8. @CruzeBe

    Yes this measure alone will not save Opel. But it’s one important peace of the puzzle which will lead to sucess and profitability:
    Opel’s image and brand identity will no longer suffer because of the low-quality Chevy lineup. People will no longer think that GM plans to replace Opel by Chevy one day. They will no longer wonder why buying an Opel if they can have a similar Chevy for the lower price. People understand now that Opel has full support of GM. The Chevy retreat will strengh the perception of Opel’s importance in Europe. And last but not least there is lower cannibalization, so perhaps some people who bought Chevy will now buy an Opel instead…not many for sure but enough.
    Another point: the Chevy distribution in Europe was not profitable, so the retreat of Chevy can help to break even sooner.

    If you prefer a Cruze instead of an Astra, well it’s your personal choice but tests and quality reports show that Cruze can’t compete with Astra.

    Reply
    1. Let me guess you are a German ? That says enough ..
      sorry to say this but lots of other European country’s are tired of the German domination in Europe so the brand and Image of Opel as a German quality car does not work in the same way it does with Volkswagen Audi or Mercedes…
      Opel is desperately busy with selling the stock cars at dumping prices cheaper than Chevrolet over here in Belgium and it does not work , btw a Chevrolet/Opel dealer told me customers who went to his showroom with the thought of buying an Opel leaved the showroom with an Chevrolet , just because the cars look better and bowtie has more appeal than the Opel badge , the only reason that some customers would not go for Chevrolet is the delivery time that takes up to 6 months… , about quality I never heard a Chevrolet driver complaining , I can’t say that about Opel.

      Reply
  9. @Astra now is not any worse than Cruze but it certainly is not better. Chevrolet never had any quality problems like Opel so I think that it was Opel that was a burden for Chevrolet.

    Reply
  10. Well comparing the Astra to the Cruze is like comparing a Verano to a Cruze.

    Much of each car carries similar parts but with the Buick you pay more so you get more and better parts. Same with Opel. Comparing Chevy to Opel is Apples to Oranges as both are fruit but they are from different trees. One may also cost you more since it is not local.

    GM is better off trying to sell a Opel for the price range to compete with VW and meet them in low and high segments. They can discontent cars to lower the price as VW does.

    What works in the states will not work in Europe or likewise. They need to see how they can consolidate what they have to better fit the market there. Chevy was a square peg in a round hole there during a difficult time to sell cars in Europe. There is a lot of competition there now for a limited amount of buyers.

    Reply
  11. In fact there is no price difference between Cruze and Astra. And there is little difference between the cars either. In Germany Cruze SW 1.4 T LTZ 103 kW is 23090 € and Astra SW 1.4 T Energy is 23455.-. Prices are about the same everywhere in Europe. After driving both cars it was really easy to choose Cruze. I just liked it better.

    Reply
    1. yes ,thats a fact !!!! I believe you for 200%…

      Reply
  12. @CruzeBe

    Yes and that’s the reason why Opel has a 7 percent market share in Belgium and Chevy one percent! Come on… People have to wait for an Opel Mokka also more than six months but this car was ordered more than 150.000 times within 14 months…nearly the same number of all Chevy sales in entire Europe…

    Reply
    1. The advertisements that they do for selling the Opel are 500 times more than that they ever have done for Chevrolet .They almost give the stock cars away for free thats why they get a bigger market share in Holland and Belgium , not because of the image of Opel . Chevrolet does a 1 % with mouth to mouth advertisements thats far more better than Opel can dream of .

      Reply
  13. I don’t think that Chevrolet (the Korean import ones, that is) actually have achieved a market position where their sales could cannibalize Opel sales.

    Let me quote again from this September 18 Automotive News article by Mike Colias claiming that GM execs differ on the overlap of Chevrolet and Opel in Europe reporting from the IAA 2013 (aka Frankfurt Motor Show):

    >QUOTE<
    Thomas Sedran, a former corporate restructuring consultant who this summer replaced Susan Docherty as head of Chevrolet Europe, says there’s minimal cross-shopping between Chevrolet and Opel, even though both are seen as mainstream value marques in Europe.

    “We see very little interaction between these two brands,” Sedran told reporters at the auto show here last week.

    He said research shows that only 5 percent to 12 percent of Chevrolet buyers also considered Opel among their top three choices. The same low degree of cross-shopping applies to Opel buyers, Sedran said.
    >/QUOTE<

    Unfortunately we do not learn which other brands those questioned actually had as their top three choices.

    I guess that for the Chevrolet buyers, the other choices were Dacia, Kia, and Skoda, and for the Opel buyers VW, Ford and Renault.

    I think that GM made a big blunder by introducing the Chevrolet brand in Europe as just another name for a bargain basement cheapo Korean import brand, thus impregnating people’s minds with this brand image, and I believe that the recent dramatic reductions in sales were due to GM Korea’s (not a 100%-subsidiary of GM) efforts to push their cars into a mainstream market segment with higher prices, thus pushing their traditional market base to the much more successfull competitor Dacia (by Renault) which had dramatic increases in sales in the past years: cheap, no frills cars, with a known and trusted big manufacturer behind, i.e. Renault.

    One has only to consider that the base price for a (Korean) Chevy Malibu is 30’000 Euro, while an Opel Insignia can be had starting with 24’130 €, nearly one fifth less (prices for Germany, quoted from the respective web site).

    Reply
  14. Will please explain why it matters where these cars originated?

    So I get the impression that you would say no to these chevys even without looking or driving them!

    If this is case then explain why? Should you worry more about how well the car is rather then where it’s from!

    Reply
  15. @Observer7

    Chevrolet buyers could have bought some other car in the same class, like Opel, Ford, VW etc. East European cars like Dacia or Skoda are not an option for most Chevrolet or VW or Opel buyers.

    @German

    Opel Mokka is a rebadged Chevrolet Trax, manufactured by GM Korea. A quality product like all Chevrolets.

    Reply
  16. reply back to gm1562:
    Well, European Chevrolet-Buyers could also have bought a Bentley or Rolls-Royce, if they would have the funds, or travel to the moon. Why not? Those are cars, and have four wheels, too.

    What you write is the same level of irrelevant pure fantasy. What makes you think that anybody looking for a cheapo Korean import car like a Daewoo, even if just given another name, would consider a VW or Opel or Ford or Renault or Toyota, as alternative in the same price/value category? Please explain!

    Finally get the fact that Chevrolet was introduced in Europe as just another name of that cheapo bargain basement Korean import brand, while every other thing remained the same: the same company, the same cars coming from the same Korean factories, the same dealers with the same service, the same price/value relation, and the same image, which was just transferred to another name.

    What do you expect of a brand with such an image?
    Get out of your dream world and into reality!

    ——————
    As to the relationship of Trax/Tracker and Mokka/Encore: the fact that the Trax was introduced in the market at least half a year after Mokka/Encore suggests rather the opposite: that the Trax is a copy of the Mokka. Actually they differ more than just by a changed badge; the sheet metal is completely different, with the possible exception of the front door. Sure, the differences are too small; at GM DAT/GM Korea they seem to be unable to develop two really different cars on the same platform. Same problem with Opel Antara and Chevrolet Captiva.

    Reply
  17. The only segment that the brands have competed in is the B class – Corsa and Aveo ( Sonic). I the C segment Cruze was consedered to be a budget model ( on par with Dacia ). This is the reason why most Chevy owners won`t consider buying Opel and they wil probably flock to Dacia/Skoda and some offerings from PSA. In Poland Chevy closed the top ten on the sales charts in 2013( as of November 30 ) but with Opel GM was on the third place. Seriously I see plenty of Chevys. I hope we at least get the next Cruze under Opel Asta name.

    Reply
  18. one more to gm1562:

    You seem to think that GM, by giving Daewoo another name, transferred the image which the Chevrolet brand has earned in a century of strong presence in the USofA, by some mythical spiritual act to that bargain-basement cheapo Korean import brand in Europe, completely effacing Daewoo’s original brand perception.

    The opposite happened: the image of the Daewoo brand in Europe was just transferred to Chevrolet, because in 2005 they simply changed the name with leaving everything else unchanged.

    BTW, Daewoo is present in Europe since 1995, and changed its name to Chevrolet in 2005.

    I think that the price/value relationship of the later Korean Daewoo-Chevrolets increased with the new products, especially the Cruze (which was built on the Astra platform developed in Germany), but that change went, methinks, largely unnoticed by the general public. As often, the first impression counts.

    I think that GM made another big blunder in their brand strategy by renaming Daewoo to Chevrolet.

    Reply
    1. So in your logic they are selling Deawoo’s in the States , the Cruze is one of GM’s best selling cars in the States , I don’t think if they would sell it under the name Opel or even Deawoo in the States they would sell allot of them.
      Even in Asia the name Deawoo is not used anymore they are all Chevrolet’s .
      @Lucas I would never buy a Cruze under the name Opel ….

      Reply
  19. Did I hurt your feelings with pure facts? I’m so sorry.

    Chevrolets in Europe are the same models as in the U.S.
    Spark is Spark
    Aveo is Sonic but the same car
    Cruze is Cruze
    Malibu is Malibu
    Trax is Encore in the U.S. but Trax in Canada
    Volt is Volt

    They are exactly the same cars. U.S. Chevrolets have nothing to do with Daewoo, neither have Chevrolets in Europe.
    You live in a different world than other people. By the way, first drive review, Chevrolet Trax 27.9.2012!

    http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/chevrolet/trax/first-drives/first-drive-review-chevrolet-trax

    Chevy buyers are not interested in el cheapos in Europe or US. Rivals are VW, Opel etc. If there is no Cruze 2 available in Europe in 2016 I’ll probably buy a BMW.

    Reply
  20. So I’ll ask the q’s again, why are cars that sell in every region of the world not good enough for you people in Europe?

    You Want Buy A Chevy Cruze A Car that sells thousands all over the world!

    Reply
  21. So I will answer you again: Chevys weren’t adepted to European requirements…or not enough…

    Reply
  22. That’s bs! You think European scumbags are any different than other people around the world? So a car that has no problem taking care of the needs of people all around the world doesn’t have enough content to take care of the people of Europe?

    And I say BS! It has nothing to do with the car, it has nothing to do with the place the car is designed, it has nothing to do with the place the car is built! It has everything to do with the people of Europe not wanting their precision opel and Vauxhall being replaced by a US brand chevy Buick cadillac!

    GM could design and build chevys buicks and cadillac s in Europe built to the specs European buyers want and the locals there would still thumb their nose at them cuz if they started buying them then GM would realize there’s no need for opel and Vauxhall anymore!

    Like I said scumbags!

    Reply
  23. Why do you always mention Buick? Buicks are Opels or based on Opel cars for the most part…

    GM should have build Chevys in Eastern Europe or Spain, offer the cars with better material mix in the interior, adapted design for Europe (not as exotic as Spark for example) and with better adjustment: all tests I have read about Chevy criticized the drive feeling and the adjustment for example of the chassis which couldn’t compete with Hyundai or Kia and especially not with Opel.

    You simply don’t understand that there are differences between the regions. In US for example people love trucks and pickups…in Europe and the rest of the world, nobody drives such a car.

    In South America there are other Chevys offered than in the US or Europe because people have other tastes. The same for Africa and Asia…This is simply the reality…and this is the reason why Hyundai or Kia or Toyota are so sucessfull because they design their cars locally to fulfill the local requirements… GM hasn’t understand this for years…now there seems to be a change….

    Reply
  24. Cruze hatch looks way better than a blandmobile Astra. But what I mean is that you can have a nicely equipped comapct car – Cruze – for a right price. Astra is more expensive and has its bland style. I think it would be logic for GM to ofer offer one comact car around the world just like Ford and Toyota.

    Reply
  25. I told you it has nothing to do with the cars, it has everything to do with the people not wanting GM’S other division’s taking over Europe like they have in every other region of the world!

    That’s why the people of Europe have no problem buying a Ford! Ford can’t close or displace Vauxhall opel or holden cuz they don’t own them, but GM Does own them and can shut those brands down if need be!

    Reply
  26. @The German if Opel where not so subsidized by the German government Opel would not survived this reconstruction of brands in Europe by GM they are producing more than they can sell , and time will tell if this is a good move from GM to remove Chevrolet from the European market , fact is a lot of these days Chevy drivers will not choose for Opel or any other GM car because they feel betrayed . The Opel brand will never have the same sentimental value of the the Bowtie , I drive a Chevy not a n Opy ……

    Reply
  27. “if Opel where not so subsidized by the German government Opel would not survived”

    …hmmm, there was a great company that got 50.000.000.000 Dollar by its government…without would not survived this reconstruction of brands in North America.

    If Opel had the chance to globalize in the past there wouldn’t have any need to subsidize them…

    “The Opel brand will never have the same sentimental value of the the Bowtie”
    Are you serious? We are talking about Europe and not North America…

    If you are a Chevy fan…that’s cool and OK! I have nothing against Chevy as a brand…they simply offered the wrong cars in Europe and that’s the reason why they failed…

    Reply
  28. That is not the reason chevy cars failed in Europe, if that’s the case then why didn’t those same cars fail all over the rest of the world?

    Your people were afraid of losing your local brands so you didn’t buy chevys to make sure chevy would fail and your local brands stayed

    Now you have a real problem, you have no excuses now! Now opel needs to make a profit! Which gives GM the right to say in 5 years still no profit now we Axe you like what’s happening in Australia!

    Reply
  29. “if that’s the case then why didn’t those same cars fail all over the rest of the world?”
    Don’t see that Chevy is so sucessfull in the world. The only reason is they are sold globally and they are cheap. VW, Toyota and Ford sell better….and soon you can be sure Hyundai will also sell more cars than Chevy

    “Your people were afraid of losing your local brands so you didn’t buy chevys to make sure chevy would fail and your local brands stayed”
    Most people are not very interested in cars nowadays…this is not a question of fear or something.

    “you have no excuses now! Now opel needs to make a profit!”
    I hope Opel will make this and be profitable until 2016. But to say that Opel has no excuses because of the Chevy retreat when nearly all European mainstream brands make losses in a declining market is very ridiculous.

    “Which gives GM the right to say in 5 years still no profit now we Axe you like what’s happening in Australia!”
    Oh, believe me, I have absolutely no doubt that GM can do this. GM is the world expert in axing brands, especially very old, proud brands with a lot of heritage…this is something GM can do very, very well! Really something to be proud of!

    Reply
  30. Very proud! Opel should be thankful GM bought them!

    Reply
  31. Brian, in Europe, if VW built the Yugo, it would be the best selling car in its class. Opel, GM don’t have the same kind of blind, moronic brand loyalty; they are actually expected to produce a quality product, which t hey haven’t done. It’s that simple.

    Reply
  32. The German – Yes GM builds cheap vehicles, for example, the Corvette, which beats a Porsche like red headed step child around the the ‘Ring for half the price.

    Reply
  33. If chevy build terrible cars then why do they sell like hot cakes around the world?

    Reply
  34. CruzeBe writing on December 15, 2013 at 11:56 am
    “The Opel brand will never have the same sentimental value of the the Bowtie” is the first of those USanian to mention
    the elephant in the room which I am pointing to, and which all those USanians are riding on but are not wanting to notice of its presence.

    “Sentimental value”! Yeah, but the “bow tie” is just a distorted cross, a geometric shape describeable by a mathematical formula. A geometric form, a sequence of letters forming a word, do not have emotions, people have. Such a symbol or word might evoke emotions in a human, but these emotions have to be present in the human in the first place, they are not created by the symbol, only brought to the foreground.

    To create such emotions in peoples minds, which then can be recalled and used for business decisions (buying a car, in our case) is the task of brand building, of marketing. And it is not enough that those emotions are property of an individual, but are shared by a body of people, a whole social entity.

    It is like the power of a king, which does not reside in his mantle, crown or sceptre, but in the fact that “his” people believe in his power.

    The power of a brand does not lie in the letters composing the marque, or the geometrical form of its logo, but in the collectively shared emotions of a given body of people.

    This makes also clear that those words and forms of the identifying symbols of a brand do not posess those emotions, and do not work independently of time and place and social context.

    Coming back to the topic of our discussion, this “emotional value” that the “bowtie” has for Crusebe, was and is not present in the European populations. The Chevrolet brand was more or less completely unknown hereabouts, and hardly anybody would have been able to recognize a Chevrolet as such.

    So, when GM renamed the Daewoo cars to Chevrolet, leaving everything else unchanged, they could not transfer this “emotional value” which this strange stretched cross has for Cruzebe to the Daewoo brand, with the effect that this Chevrolet cross and name had to evoke the same emotional value as the Daewoo bloom and name.

    That’s what you have to understand and accept, maybe with gnashing teeth, but accept the fact: GM introduced the hitherto completly unknown Chevrolet name as just another name of Daewoo. The cars and the dealers changed the name, but the emotions remained the same in peoples minds.

    Reply
  35. You may remember very old things like Daewoo and Auto Union. Most car buyers only know Chevrolet and Audi.

    Reply
  36. gm1652, you mentioned current models.
    Please note that earlier in Europe preavious, much worse generation of cars designed by Daewoo were sold rebadged as Chevy in Europe – Matiz, older Aveo, Lanos etc and the made up poor Chevrolet image when it was new brand in Europe.

    Reply
  37. The point was that it all happened a long time ago. Current Chevrolet models are the same as in the U.S.

    Reply
  38. @gm1652:

    Again I have to stump your nose on the facts (I know, facts are a strange feature for a fan, who likes rather to be fooled to believe that the Korean developed Chevrolets are identical in the US as elsewhere):

    1st, the Korean Chevrolets maybe now on the market in the US also, but over there they are not the same. They had to be modified according to the different US regulations.

    Spark and Aveo/Sonic are exclusive Daewoo/GM Korea developments, the evolution of the Daewoo Matiz and Kalos, respectively. Also the Captiva. The Matiz is still on the market in parts of South America and in China, and maybe some other parts of the world, too. The Cruze and Malibu are based on the Delta II and Epsilon II architectures developed by Opel in Germany, and the cars probably in a cooperation between Korea and Germany (in the case of the Malibu there might have been a considerable input from Warren (USA). The new GM did get back on its feet mainly with developments of their subsidiaries in Germany and Korea…

    2nd, the renaming of the Daewoo brand to Chevrolet did not happen long ago. Eight years are a very short time in the building of a brand identity, and even more in the change of the brand identiy, of changing the collectively held emotions evoked by a name and a symbol in millions of people. And the name Daewoo vanished from the company name only two years ago. Mind you, that the Chevrolet Europe AG in Switzerland and national Chevrolet distribution companies like Chevrolet Deutschland GmbH in Germany are not owned by General Motors Company, Detroit, but by GM Korea, recently renamed from GM Daewoo.

    It needs to be recalled and recalled for those US-fans who have stopped thinking, that GM had given the name Chevrolet the same “emotional value” as Daewoo by simply changing the name, and leaving everything else unchanged: the company, the cars, the engineers, the development center in Incheon, the factories, the dealers, the everything. They made sure that the hitherto unknown name Chevrolet got the same qualities as the name Daewoo, continuing em>that. And this is independently of the cars which have later been developed by the Koreans and brought to the market in Europe and elsewhere under the name Chevrolet instead of their original name Daewoo.

    My advice: stop being an agitated fan, and start to think and to look at reality.

    Reply
  39. cruzeowner writing on December 17, 2013 at 12:37 am

    speaks of “very old things like Daewoo and Auto Union”. The company Auto Union was actually destryed by the 2nd phase of the 20th century war for world domination (Auto Union was Germany’s 2nd largest automaker after Opel); they produced only the DKW branded cars until VW took over the company and revived the 4th AU brand “Audi”. In 1969, Auto Union merged with the Neckarsulm based company NSU and the resulting company took the name of Audi NSU Auto Union AG, and only in 1985 the company changed its name to Audi AG. That was 45 and 28 years ago.

    The GM Daewoo Automobile and Technology changed its name to simply GM Korea in February 2011, which is soon just three years ago.

    Three decades and more on the one hand, and not yet three years on the other, are quite different time spans. You are comparing apples with pine-apples.

    On the other hand, please not that the label “Chevrolet” has a completely different meaning in the USA and in Euroe. In the USA, this brand is present for more than a century, while it appeared in Europe in 2005 as just another name for Daewoo, continuing to evoke the same “emotional values” as the name Daewoo as whose continuation the “Chevrolet” name was introduced.

    That fact finally brought the GM management in Detroit to recognize their blunder and to prefer a calamitous end to an endless calamity, and to terminate the marketing of the Korean “Chevrolets” in Europe.

    Cope with the facts, man! and stop indulging in fan dreams.

    Reply
  40. Other people here know the real facts. Current European Chevrolets are world models. Cruze is the same Cruze in Europe and in the U.S.A. Neither have anything to do with historical Daewoo name. And Cruze is made in ten countries around the world.

    Of course you can live in the past if it feels safer.

    Reply
  41. The Koreans made a big blunder by offering in the compact class against Golf, Focus and Astra, the Cruze as only a sedan.

    When an automobile maker wants to gain some market share in Europe’s compact car segment, he has to offer primarily a hatchback. GM Daewoo didn’t. The Cruze hatchback came only recently, and as good looking as this car is (according to photos, I have not yet seen one in the wild), it could have been a success. BTW, I think that this design originates from Holden’s Design Center in Melbourne, like the Cruze station wagon, too.

    Hyundai, the other Korean automaker, knows much more about the market here in Europe. They have hatchbacks in all segments, from the i10 to the i40. Well, their cars for Europe are designed in their European design center which happens to be located in — Rüsselsheim. Next to the Opel design and development center…

    Reply
  42. @Observer7, summary of your thinking.

    Ten Chevrolet Cruzes. One of them is made in Korea. The others are made in Australia, Brazil, China, India, Kazakhstan, Russia, Thailand, USA and Vietnam. The others are real Chevrolets but Korean made Cruze is not a Chevrolet. It is a fake (Daewoo) that has nothing to do with real Chevrolets.

    GM Korea plants (at least some of them) are formerly owned by Daewoo. That makes all Korean made Buicks, Chevrolets, Holdens and Opels Daewoos? No, it’s just the Chevrolets that are exported to Europe. They are Daewoos now and forever whatever happens.

    Observer7, we are so proud of you.

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  43. Why does it matter where these cars are made or designed? All of the cars and trucks that our offered by GM are under the GM umbrella and should be excepted!

    Then there are complete morons that focus on the wrong details when it comes to these cars! What these people should be doing is analyze these cars for what they really are! Sit in them, drive them, look at them to see if they are nice cars! But no these brain dead people would rather bring up shit that took place years ago!

    If they took the time to look at these cars they would realize what the rest of the world has come to find out and that is these cars are really good! The numbers around the world would indicate that!

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  44. http://www.ibtimes.com/general-motors-gm-volkswagen-vow-its-all-about-china-brazil-not-so-much-russia-india-1399501
    This site shows the sales in the most important markets currently, the BRIC nations (Brazil Russia India and China, though limited to these nations in terms of the research, but the BRIC nations are also said to include Indonesia and Mexico)
    http://www.chevrolet.co.in/
    This is the Chevy site in India, and as you can see the vehicles that they sell are vastly different, then their American counterparts. Trust me driving a mid sized Malibu would not go well during rush hour in New Delhi. This goes back to why they sell so well around the world. Both in terms of cost and catering to the local market.
    http://www.chevrolet.com.cn/brandsite/
    The Chinese site holds a few more familiar models to the American market, but still has their models that are more catering to their market because it fits the needs that the Chinese people have in their market. Aside from the Cruze the models that Chevy sold were not made for the market such as a Malibu wagon. The other issue is cost, and while many like their Chevy vehicles, but frankly its still a cost issue, right now the Euro market is in the middle of a race to the bottom in prices because when a lower income family or a student want to get a car, they don’t look at a top of the line VW or Renault. They look at a Skoda or a SEAT simply out of an issue of cost. While the vehicles sold were good Chevy’s (especially to their Daewoo manufactured predecessors) the cost of the vehicle was very high when you consider that Chevy was put in this market to compete with Skoda or Dacia or SEAT. If their were models that were sold cheaper and more catering to a younger generation, they may have done well in the market because they would bring in consumers looking for a value car, and students coming out of uni to pay for these cars. From there the brand would have created a foothold and brought customers from Chevy to buy Caddys or Opels or even Chevy. Also the Korean production slowed the growth for Chevy, if you want a brand to grow they need to be there for the customers, that is another must for the brand to flourish. So lowering the prices, local production and building cars that cater to the market, not just to the broad market but to the value minded consumers either being lower income families or younger generation buyers and the Chevy brand would have done well. But unlike the Chinese market or the Indian market, Chevy failed to become the type of brand that Europe needed at the time.

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  45. “Cruzeowner” recites things which are completely irrelevant for this discussion, which is about the fate of the “Chevrolet” brand in Europe, and by Europe is meant in this context EU27+EFTA plus the defeated and dismembered Jugoslavia and Albania.

    For this European market it is completely irrelevant, if some of the Korean Chevrolets are built also in other places, and what people think of “Chevrolet” in other places of the world.

    The European market is exclusively furnished by cars produced at their original home, i.e. Korea, and they are “real Chevrolets” for the European public. The only real fact which doesn’t enter his logger head, the elefant in the room, is that for the European public it does not matter if you say “Daewoo” or “Chevrolet”. The two words have the same meaning, evoke the same “emotional value”, designate the same cars, the same dealers, the same service, the same distribution organisation, the same origin of those cars. This is certainly different in the USofA, where “Cruzeowner” probably lives, but that is not topic of this discussion, and is completely irrelevant for us here.

    It is the Detroit management who placed an Equal Sign = between Daewoo and Chevrolet for the European market. And that is the only fact which is of importance here for this discussion.

    Besides, you are falsifying the facts when you write that “GM Korea plants (at least some of them) are formerly owned by Daewoo”. GM Daewoo has not sold those factories to a new company. GM Korea is just the new name (since less than three years) of GM Daewoo. It is the same and identical company, unchanged also in is ownership composition, where General Motors Company is only the majority shareholder, but not the sole master in the house. The KDB (Korean Development Bank) still has some veto rights against GM. Remind you also again that the European Chevrolet distribution companies are not owned by General Motors Company, but by GM Korea (the new name of the company since February 2011, formerly GM Daewoo).

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  46. You really use lots of time to defend your weird opinion.

    So you really think that all these GM car brands that are made in Korea today are more or less Daewoos. Ok, that’s your opinion. Should we then call American Chevrolet Cruze Daewoo Cruze? Why not? What’s the difference? It’s made of the same GM components. How about Opel Mokka. It’s made in Korea so it’s at least 100% Daewoo, right?

    It’s not easy to say but you really are stupid.

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    1. again @Cruzeowner:
      I’m at baffed to see you reapeating the same off-topic stuff as if you cannot read my words. Maybe my contributions are too long, as you say, to keep your attention alive?

      We are talking about the fate of the brand “Chevrolet” in Europe, not in the USA. Those are completely different things which have nothing to do with each other. Can’t you get that? I have reapeated it over and over and over again. Europe is the topic of this thread, not North or South America, where Chevrolet has a long standing. Slowly the feeling creeps up in me that the prejudice about the bad, insufficient school education in the USA are true. The information for you to grasp is that in Europe, Chevrolet = Daewoo. And we are talking about Chevrolet, since that brand was given by GM as the new name for the Daewoo enterprise, not Opel or Buick or Cadillac or Oldsmobile or Saturn or whatever is known to you.

      Sure, it hurts the Mokka sales that it is imported from Korea. But different from the Antara, the marketing on the introduction of this car seemed to have been better, and it has been announced that it will be built in the Spanish Opel factory along with the Corsa and Meriva. And it is known that the Opel development center has worked at least on the driveability of the car, especially the four-wheel-drive system (which you find also mentioned in the Chinese press releases on the Chinese twin of the Mokka, the Buick Encore), a apparently necessary work which Holden claims to have done for the Trax/Tracker. And globally, the Trax/Tracker has been introduced at least six months after the Mokka/Encore.

      You may rejoice that the Antara is the only Opel which (in Germany, but probably all over Europe, too) is selling less than its Dawoo/Chevrolet counterpart, the Captiva. One of the reasons for the success of the Captiva might be — I am guessing — that the Captiva was recognized as honest, as the real thing while the Opel Antara was not a real Opel, but a Daewoo/Chevrolet in disguise. And the Antara is shorter, but costs 2000€ more than the Captiva in its simplest form (27’680€ vs. 25’690).

      PS: I read several times and in different places that one out of four Chevrolet branded vehicles worldwide is built by GM Korea (new name for GM Daewoo since February 2011).

      Reply
  47. All this info is great but it fails to point out the fact that the people of Europe were not interested in actually looking at or driving the cars to see if they were good enough to buy!

    Which speaks to how truly stupid the people of Europe really are!

    Instead the people of Europe just used word association of one make to another to decide if a car was good for them!

    The fact is this these cars from GM we’re great car’s that would do just fine if given the opportunity! Just like those same car’s have around the world!

    There is nothing wrong with the spark sonic malibu impala the only thing that is wrong is the people that turned their nose up to them!

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  48. To Mr. Brian Ritter only the question:

    When have you the last time thoroughly looked at and test-driven a Ssangyong, a Kia, a Hyundai, a Fiat, “to see if they were good enough to buy”?

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  49. To sell cheap Korean made Chevys in Europe was a mistake in the first place. Europeans have always made fun of American cars (poor fuel mileage, quality, handling, 400hp vehicles that top out at 90 mph), but there has always been something resembling respect and awe for the looks and nostalgia of a ’57 Chevy, or the intimidating size of a Suburban. Now this is gone forever due to the ersatz Chevys being sold there. Now the joke is complete.

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  50. Opel we’ll never really move up market. They will be on part with VW, which really isn’t even premium unless you compare it to Skoda.
    I expect to see General Motors once again for the 20th time change their plans for Opel, and this time align the brand with Chevy.
    General Motors it even spoke about the fact that Opels and Buicks may not look the same in the future but instead function on the same architectures.
    Ultimately the three brands have a lot in common and share almost everything.
    I just wonder what will be done with my favorite designer, Mark Adams.

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  51. Burn at the stake

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  52. I only look at GM cars and trucks! Which include opel Vauxhall and holden!

    See I’m not like you I’m a true GM fan!

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  53. What is wrong with Europeans wanting homegrown, familiar brands? Non superpowers need economic nationalism to survive, anyway.
    Why do you want them in Chevy/Buicks and not Opels?
    You sound like an” America love it or leave it” freak.

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  54. I want you to buy both your home grown and chevy Buick and cadillac cuz I want GM to thrive!

    When you say no to chevy your saying no to GM and I don’t like that

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  55. Every region has its own preferences in terms of brand and style. German economic nationalism defines there auto industry.
    Furthermore they’re experiencing a Chevrolet has not been positive until recently.
    You can’t expect buyers to worship at one car company, or division. I like GM, but appreciate other brands as well.it’s insane to ignore the beautiful designs of other companies, to ignore Automotive fine art.

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  56. Well, Brian R., as a fan you are more of a religious worshipper, and I defend the right of religious freedom for each and every one, as one of the most important democratic rights. But you can’t force your religion on others, they have their freedom, too.

    But, all around the world, most people tend to be more rational in their decisions regarding such big expenses like for a car. While sentiments always play a big role, only few are blind followers of an automobile faith.

    I know that in Europe there are fans of Opel, but those do not care about GM, or even hold GM as being responsible for Opel’s problems; and there are fans of US cars (for their sheer size, and all the military might behind them), but those don’t care for a specific brand.

    I can’t imagine that there is a single fan of the General Motors Company as such, as corporation.

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  57. Let me ask you are you a fan of a sports team?
    Do you stay with that team threw good times and bad? Year in and year out?

    Do you respect a guy that wears a Cowboys hat one week and a giants hat the next week?

    No we don’t, so why are cars any different?

    We all have the right to pick what ever brand we want and stick with it we do it in other parts of our lives why not the automotive industry?

    You Think I Am Religious? Nope never would I follow such bs!

    If you don’t think picking a side and sticking with it is what most people do then go tell Alabama fans to put on a auburn hat! Remember they don’t say role tide for nothing!

    GM is my team, I picked them when I was a kid and I’m still here unlike you people who will give up on GM at the drop of a hat!

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  58. No, Brian, I am no fan of nothing, especially not of commercial enterprises like those “sports clubs” or even industrial companies. I do think by myself and I do reserve my rights against the commercial interests of such companies, be it as a worker or a customer of their products. So I do pick a side, and that is the side of working people.

    And as I said before, fandom is a kind of religious adulation, and I defend thoroughly the freedom of religion, maybe because I am not religious myself. So adore what you may, just do not infringe the rights of others!

    Reply

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