Opel is currently in the midst of a major turnaround, which if CEO Dr. Karl Thomas Neumann gets his way, will not only see the brand return to profitability by mid-decade, but will make it Europe’s second largest automaker by 2022. So far, 2014 is looking good for the German automaker, after it and sister brand Vauxhall experienced a large sales uptick in the month of February.
Overall General Motors sales grew 12 percent in Europe last month, largely spurred on by a 16 percent sales increase of Vauxhall and Opel branded vehicles. Opel is looking to grow in the region in 2014 faster than the projected 2 percent industry-wide growth, and is hoping models like the Adam minicar will draw conquest buyers to the nameplate.
“We want to grow faster than the market, to gain market share,” Neumann said earlier this month.
Sales of GMs Chevrolet brand, which is being pulled from the region in 2016, fell 5 percent in February. The decision should help Opel meet its future sales goals, as it will no longer have to deal with any internal competition brought on by Chevrolet.
Comments
GM ruined Chevrolet for Europe with its garbage. In the past, American nameplates were known to Europeans only as cool looking American machines that live on TV (Fall guy’s GMC, A Team’s van, Knight Rider’s Trans Am). Now that they actually got a sample to drive, they are saying no thanks.
Come the think of it, the American consumer said no thanks also; GM is but a relic kept afloat artificially by the government. The only difference between the cardboard Trabis and Wartburgs of Soviet controlled East Germany, and today’s GM is that GM wants crazy money for their junk, even after receiving billions of dollars that will never be paid back. $70k for a 4 cylinder Caddy? Say whhaaat!? BMW and Mercedes don’t even do that.
Whilst I respect everybody on this forum is entitled to their opinion, and there is a wide range of views, however my question to you is – if that’s what you think of GM as a whole why bother being on a GM forum at all?
Odd how well Vauxhall does compared to Opel. I think part of Opel’s problem is that its seen as American in Germany–a nation second to none when it comes to economic nationalism.
Opel should serve as a model for GM, especially in terms of how they manage Chevy globally. This deal with PSA is great in that it gets Opel Euro specific product minus the R&D. GM did the same with FIAT, still uses the platform on Corsa and now Adam.
GM needs more partnerships for niche product and I hope Bares continues to take advantage of this.