Following sales gains in the United States and China, General Motors has also reported positive sales results for the month of March in Europe — where its subsidiary, Opel, posted an increase in year-over-year sales volume. In March 2014, Opel sales climbed to roughly 133,700 units (according to preliminary figures) — an increase of 9.3 percent compared to March 2013 sales results. That  higher sales volume has resulted in Opel boasting a market share of 6.7 percent — its highest since June 2011.
“Many European markets are finally growing again”, said Board Member for Sales Peter Christian Küspert. “It is a positive sign that Opel/Vauxhall is gaining market shares in this situation. The sustainability of our growth is also reflected in our current order books: already at the end of March, we had received around 20,000 more orders than in the first quarter of 2013. The current bestseller among the new models is the Mokka with around 215,000 orders. We are also delighted with the popularity of our lifestyle mini ADAM with 80,000 orders, and we have already received over 85,000 orders for our flagship the new Insignia.”
Opel’s success is broad and spans multiple markets. In March, the brand gained market share in ten European countries, including:
- Germany, where Opel enjoyed a March 2014 market share of 7.1 percent, up 0.3 percent compared to March 2013
- Poland, where Opel registrations grew by 57 percent
- Hungary, where Opel reinforced its number one position in the passenger car market
- The Netherlands, where Opel became the most popular automotive brand for the first time since March 2012
- The UK, where sales of Opel’s sister brand, Vauxhall, jumped 17 percent on a year-over-year basis. Notably, Insignia and Zafira were number one in their segments, while Corsa and Mokka were in second place.
Comments
Never ceases to amaze me how little focus or praise is ever directed at Vauxhall’s continued stellar performance!
The United Kingdom (Vauxhall’s ONLY market) is GM’s fourth largest global market, after China, USA and Brazil.
Of the 133,700 units that GM shifted in Europe during March, Vauxhall (UK only) sales accounted for 55,328 or 41.4% of the total!
Hope someone in Detroit is taking note!
The UK market has historically been (one of) the largest in Europe by volume for the industry, not just GM. It would be more impressive if Vauxhall significantly grew its share in this large market.
No the UK has not always been so, it only recently overtook France. What is impressive is Vauxhalls market share which last year was 13.2% more than double what Opel’s is in Germany so what would be impressive is if Opel could match Vauxhalls performance in its home market. Said it before and I’ll say it again Vauxhall is STILL the only bright spot in GM Europe (for now)
Actually, my statement is accurate. Let’s revisit it:
“The UK market has historically been (one of) the largest…”
The key word is “one of”. Has it not always been in the top 3-4 in volume in general? It most certainly has been!
And let’s not forget that without GM Europe, Vauxhall would have been long gone. Probably.
@rocket-man: What do you want to say with your post?
Opel and Vauxhall are one company…only different brands. Vauxhall is doing an excellent(!) Job, no doubt, but you shouldn’t forget that UK is another market then for example Germany.
In UK you have only two “native” greater brands, or let me say brands that a are seen as British brands: Ford and Vauxhall. So Vauxhall has only one real local rival in UK…
In Germany you have Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Opel and also Ford which is seen as a German manufacturer in Germany, so a lot of more competition. Traditionally local brands are selling the best in their home-country. So in Germany the Situation is a little bit more complicated then in Britain.
When the European will rise within the next months/years, Vauxhalls contribution to the volume of sales will diminish…
And please don’t forget…the Vauxhall cars are developed in Germany for the most part…
Dear Herr German,
What I’m alluding to is this – Back in the 1990’s (around the time of Corsa B) Opel was rightly No.1 in Europe and could do no wrong. Vauxhall had just overtaken Rover to become No. 2 in the UK. Back then, Ford had around 25% of the UK market … a lead that has gradually been eroded by Vauxhall, VAG, Nissan and the German premium brands.
So what has happened over the last 15-20 years? Well Vauxhall has continued to grow its share in the UK, but sadly Opel has fallen off a cliff.
Don’t get me wrong – personally I lay a lot of the blame firmly at the feet of Detroit. During that period they used the very profitable GM Europe to shore-up the loss-making US operation, with the result that GM Europe lacked decent investment and quality dropped accordingly (eg. Vectra B was a very poor replacement for Vectra A/Cavalier C). But through all of these problems, Vauxhall’s customer base has remained loyal.
As for there being only two ‘native’ volume brands in the UK, I beg to differ. Much as you consider Ford and Vauxhall (both American owned) to be viewed as British in the UK, the Brits themselves also consider Mini, and certain models from Honda, Toyota and Nissan in the same way, as they are all manufactured in England. In fact Nissan (which is the UK’s leading manufacturer with circa 519,000 units in 2013) built more vehicles than the whole of the Italian motor industry combined in the same year. So, If you don’t mind me pointing out, there’s quite a bit of local competition in the UK too – not that different from Germany, then!
I’m very well aware that the majority of the Opel/Vauxhall development is undertaken in Germany with a bit thrown in from Japan (Agila), Turkey (Combo), France (Movano), USA (Ampera), Korea (Captiva and Mokka) UK (Vivaro and Astra) and of course Australia (UK only VXR8 GTS). The Brits respect German engineering (along with other regional development centres) and we appreciate that Opel/Vauxhall is all the better for it. By the way, the chassis settings for all Vauxhall models are considerably different to their Opel equivalents, with that development being undertaken at Milbrook in Bedfordshire.
As I said…Vauxhall is doing a very good job! No doubt about that…
Vauxhall’s sucess is crucial to Opel/Vauxhalls’ survival…
But I don’t see any rivalry between Opel and Vauxhall. Some of the British guys here seem to see that a little bit different if I understand them right.
Concerning the Astra…as far as I know, the Astra was developed in Germany while a great part of the Astra Sports Tourer and the chassis of the GTC were developed in UK.
The Vivaro btw was for the most part developed by Renault…don’t know if Opel or Vauxhall had a great Impact on the developement.
And the Mokka was also developed in Germany but is still built in Korea. The production will move to Spain at the end of this year btw.
Opel and Vauxhall guys also had a major part in the development of the Volt/Amepera…so the Ampera is far more than a rebadged Volt…
From my understanding Herr German, you probably work in Russelsheim!
I agree, there should be no Opel/Vauxhall rivalry, however I do strongly feel that Vauxhall’s continued robust market performance does tend to be somewhat over-looked, especially from the Detroit perspective!
As for vehicle development responsibility, Vivaro A was co-developed between GM Europe (Milbrook) and Renault, with the majority of production of all models (Opel/Vauxhall and Renault/Nissan) being undertaken at Luton. High-roof models were built in Spain.
Vivaro B is again jointly developed and as we have already seen with the publicity pics, it is now more clearly differentiated from the Renault/Nissan version. Production is now under-way at Luton, but because Opel/Vauxhall anticipate that more plant capacity is required for generation B, this time Renault/Nissan will build all of its variants in France (including RHD models).
I do not work in Rüsselsheim, I am only interested in car industry.
Yes maybe in Detroit they don’t see Vauxhall’s performance but in Detroit they don’t care much about Europe generally. But I am sure, in Germany they know it.
I didn’t know that Milbrook had such an influence on the development of the Vivaro. Thank you for that information!
Most Vauxhalls have different suspension settings to their equivalent Opel models, the VXR is a prime example, they tend to handle better than the OPC counterpart. Vauxhall, because they account for over a third of all GM Europe sales, also have a major input into the design & spec of new models which is easier now because you have Brit, Mark Adams, heading the Vauxhall / Opel design department. The basic problem is Opel is still (but improving) tarnished brand in Europe, Vauxhall isn’t in the UK. I was the one that broke the story of the GM research into possible re-branding in Europe about a year ago, the result is the withdrawal of Chevrolet in Europe but it was close they were seriously looking at dropping Opel in some markets but fortunately they made the right choice in my opinion. As for the Vivaro Vauxhall / Opel also had far more input into the design than the previous model. Opel are not out of the woods yet but there are signs they are making some progress but be in no doubt – No Vauxhall = No Opel and vice versa, the volumes just would not be viable . Finally there are still decisions being made for political reasons, Newmans off the record remarks about the next Zafira – the logical choice on cost was Ellesmere Port but the German government needed to be kept on side over the closure of Bocham so it went to Russelsheim instead.
I think you are right in nearly all points and I would agree with you but the next gen Zafira will not be built in Germany, it will be built in France by PSA.
After the closure of Bochum the current Zafira will be built in Rüsselsheim for maybe the next three years or so…but the scale will be very small…
Concerning the plants…there were rumors for a very long time that both British plants were near to be closed and because of political measures in UK, the Bochum plant which is one of the most competitive is Europe was closed instead. Don’t know if this is really true…
As I said before I see no reason why there should any rivalry between Opel and Vauxhall only because they have different names. This makes no sense.
The PSA plan to build the Zafira has been cancelled
No has not. The plan of co-developing a small car has been cancelled! The next gen Zafira will be built by PSA in Sochaux, France while the next gen Meriva and the Citroen equivalent by Opel in Spain.
Opel and PSA have not cancelled their cooperation (as I read it here many times). They will develop and produce some small vans (Zafira and Meriva) and some LCVs together. So the next Opel Combo will be based on a PSA platform and so on…
Germany, like Japan, are economically nationalistic. They aren’t like Americans willing to buy any import provided the price and quality are right.
The Economist published an article last year suggesting Opel be scrapped due to the brand’s reliance on fleet sales. In less than one year, we see a rebound and Vauxhall is primarly responsible for 50,000+ sales.
Mark Adams designs plus GM’s efforts to enter new.segments ensure the brands survival.
Personally, I think Opel would make a far better global brand than Chevy. Since that will never happen, I hope Opel gets real licencing fees for product sold under different brands.
Germany is not more economically nationalistic than any other European country! Or what do you mean with nationalistic? You know that there are no tariffs within the European Union? Germany has a much higher rate when it comes to “foreign” Investments copared to France for example.
In Germany Kia, Hyundai, Skoda and Dacia are very(!) sucessfull. All of them are growing more than 10%.
Concerning Opel as a global brand you are right. German brands have a much higher reputation in most parts of the world than American brands (for example Chevy). Opel is a pearl within GM but GM never understood that.
Now ist too late to globalize Opel. Maybe there are still chances in Africa or the Middle East but I don’t think that GM will support Opel to become a strong player in these regions.
The current strategy of aligning the Opel and the Buick brand is a good compromise in my opinion. But GM has thrown away a very great chance of globalizing Opel which nowadays offers higher quality, better design (in my opinion) and more premium feeling than Chevy does.
Beside that I am very glad that GM has understood that Chevy has no Chance in Western Europe.
With that said I can’t understand is that GM is now doing the same mistake again with Cadillac. Cadillac will never grow in Europe unless Cadillac is developing and offering cars and especially engines (Diesels) for Europe. And this would be too expensive. Every Opel flagship (which could be shared with or based on a Buick car) would sell 10 times better than the entire Cadillac lineup in Europe.
I agree with so many of your comments, outside of the issue of economic nationalism.
Look at the grip domestics have on the German economy? Now contrast this against the Anglo American model of deconstructioning industrial bases to the point where native brands have lost leadership positions in the UK and AU. For that matter, Germany even with higher labor costs has only lost one factory since WW2. Face it, Germans are more loyal to local brands as are the French and Japanese.
As for Opel, it could complement Chevy on a global level much like Hyn/Kia. Maybe Opel could serve as a successor brand in markets where Chevy has left a bad impression.
I think Opel & Chevy need to further ally. In the UK, Astra and Corsa are stronger competitors against Fiesta and Focus, not to mention the Japanese brands–Honda is benchmarking the next Civic against Astra, not Cruze.
I like the idea of Opel sharing with Buick on premium offerings such as Cascada that don’t fit Chevy. I also like the idea of Opel picking up higher end near luxury cars from Buick. Tinkering with sheet metal will avoid brand and design confusion.
Opel can be a truly disruptive force if the target Skoda, VW, and Audi with one singe marque. Hyn/Kia have adopted this model of placing Sloan’s entire latter under one brand. Also, it will help as Benz and BMW attempt to gain more volume with cars like CLA.
Herr German,
One more point if I may?
Ford no longer builds any vehicles in the UK … only engines.
Perhaps it’s my great age, but am I missing something here Chris?
The three big volume sellers and leading marques in the UK for 2013 are:
1) Ford with 311,000, + 9.9% y.o.y.
2) Vauxhall with 232,000, + 11.7% y.o.y.
3) Volkswagen with 183,000, + 6.0% y.o.y.
This has been the position for the last 15 years or so. Since 2009, Vauxhall has consistently grown sales y.o.y. at a greater rate than either Ford or VW.
Granted, VAG as a whole is the UK market leader in outright volume, but that is on the back of 6 marques.
Yes, the premium brands continue their upward march, but they’re still a long way behind the big volume players:
Audi @ #4 with 142,000, + 15%
BMW @ #5 with 136,000, + 6%
Mercedes with 109,000, + 19%
Of course all these numbers pale into absolute insignificance when compared to Lotus’ mighty spurt of + 86% y.o.y., but that still left the brand with less than 300 units shifted for the whole year!
I don’t think you’re missing anything here, rocket-man. Vauxhall’s (and Opel’s) growth is good, but it’s also the result of the region recovering from an economic recession/depression, which naturally result in market and sales volume growth. At this point, it’s market share that differentiates how quickly a company/manufacturer is growing due to that recession compared to the competition. Vauxhall seems to be doing well now, but I would be significantly more impressed if it was (more?) consistent.
To recap: the growth of Vauxhall’s sales volume is good. I’d like to see it be more consistent over time, however, as the effects of the recession will have withered.
I also wonder if that growth is profitable (vs. being bought with heavy incentive programs). This is one of the things that pure volume and market share metrics don’t tell us.
“I’m very well aware that the majority of the Opel/Vauxhall development is undertaken in Germany with a bit thrown in from Japan (Agila), Turkey (Combo), France (Movano), USA (Ampera), Korea (Captiva and Mokka) UK (Vivaro and Astra) and of course Australia (UK only VXR8 GTS). The Brits respect German engineering (along with other regional development centres) and we appreciate that Opel/Vauxhall is all the better for it.”
You have not listed where the engineering work for these vehicles were done but the production site! The Astra (produced in the UK, Germany, Russia and Poland) and Mokka were primary engineerd in Germany while some engineering work for the Ampera was done by Opel in Germany as well but primary engineering work for the Ampera/Volt took place in the USA. The Antara was almost completely engineerd by GM DAT in South Korea, Opel was only responsible for the exterior and interior design. Opel Agila (engineerd by Suzuki and produced in Hungary), Combo (engineerd by Fiat and produced in Turkey), Vivaro and Movano (cooperation between GM/Opel and Renault-Nissan) are rebadged cars from non GM brands and are no “real” Opels when it comes to German engineering done in Ruesselsheim.
For your information:
New Opel Mokka: German engineered SUV chassis for European needs
http://media.opel.com/media/intl/en/opel/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/intl/en/2012/opel/06_18_opel_mokka.html
Millbrook is just a proving ground with 400 employees similar to Opel’s proving ground in Dudenhofen but it is not nearly comparable with Opel’s International Technical Development Center (ITDC) in Ruesselsheim where around 6,200 engineers and designers are employed. Opel’s ITDC is GM ’s second largest R&D center outside the USA.
Gents,
I think the nationalism behind Opel and Vauxhall is ironic. As The German said, one can’t exist without the other. And yet I can clearly deduce some rivalry from the words of the Vauxhall lovers. If I may be so bold as to sum up, the sentiment revolves around Vauxhall not getting the credit it supposedly deserves.
It seems that Vauxhall fans want everyone to know that a small office in Britain does its own chassis tuning and helps out in developing an Opel variant or two once in a while (with the exception of the Vivaro vans). So while Opel does most of the heavy lifting, the Vauxhall faithful don’t want Vauxhall’s small contribution to be forgotten. It almost seems like Vauxhall fans always try to justify the brand’s existence to the rest of the world.
Anyway, that’s just my assessment of the sentiment from the comment here and in other places on GMA.
But I do have some issues to address and/or clarify.
For rocket-man and David:
“By the way, the chassis settings for all Vauxhall models are considerably different to their Opel equivalents, with that development being undertaken at Milbrook in Bedfordshire.”
“Most Vauxhalls have different suspension settings to their equivalent Opel models, the VXR is a prime example, they tend to handle better than the OPC counterpart”
Are they, really, “considerably different”? Are UK roads so different from those where Opels are sold so as to justify a “considerably different” chassis tune? I’m asking here in all honesty. How “different” is “considerably different”?
“Don’t get me wrong – personally I lay a lot of the blame firmly at the feet of Detroit. During that period they used the very profitable GM Europe to shore-up the loss-making US operation.”
This is rather, if not completely, inaccurate. When was GM Europe “very profitable” and GM North America “loss-making”? What time period are we talking about? From what I can remember, GMNA may have posted a few quarters of losses in 2008/2009, but it wasn’t loss-making for a great period of time. Ever.
For The German”
“Opel and Vauxhall guys also had a major part in the development of the Volt/Amepera…so the Ampera is far more than a rebadged Volt…”
Besides the Delta/Delta II platform, what was Opel/Vauxhall’s “major” contribution to the Volt/Ampera project. The vehicle is a rebadged Volt.
Opel and PSA have not cancelled their cooperation (as I read it here many times). They will develop and produce some small vans (Zafira and Meriva) and some LCVs together. So the next Opel Combo will be based on a PSA platform and so on…
For both rocket-man and The German:
“I do strongly feel that Vauxhall’s continued robust market performance does tend to be somewhat over-looked, especially from the Detroit perspective!”
“Yes maybe in Detroit they don’t see Vauxhall’s performance but in Detroit they don’t care much about Europe generally. But I am sure, in Germany they know it.”
Why is it that you “feel” this way? Do you think the people in Detroit have an inherent dislike for Vauxhall? The “people in Detroit” today look at everything in a pure business case scenario. This can be both good and bad… but one thing is for sure: your sentiment in no way aligns with reality. It’s a very “but-hurt” point of view that you should discontinue.
For David:
“Vauxhall, because they account for over a third of all GM Europe sales, also have a major input into the design & spec of new models which is easier now because you have Brit, Mark Adams, heading the Vauxhall / Opel design department.”
Do you really think that nationality of Adams plays a role? His actions should stem from his role and responsibility… not around his country of origin.
Hmmm! Some of what you say is actually true but, as usual, some of it is a load of ill-informed crap. Probably the most irritating and recurring theme you keep babbling about is that Vauxhall is some sort of tiny outfit buried in the middle of nowhere in the UK and of no significance. Let’s be absolutely clear NO VAUXHALL = NO OPEL – PERIOD. If you take the German market out of the sales figures Vauxhall sell more cars than every other European market that Opel sells cars in put together. When more than one third of your entire sales are in one country it is vital that during the design / development of any new model UK preferences must be taken into account and as Mark Adams is British, and as he has stated in interviews, his favourite city is London he obviously has a very good idea of what British tastes are & in any event Vauxhall technical and marketing staff are involved at every stage of the design of any new model. As for British roads being different yes they are, they are probably THE worst in Europe or even the civilized world! Vauxhall have a very talented vehicle dynamics team at Millbrook, the 3rd largest proving ground in Europe, who make necessary adjustments to suspension settings. The one recent model they were unable to do so in time was the Vectra C VXR which used the standard OPC set up and the car was ridiculed in the British press for having a wholly inadequate suspension and steering set up in relation to its performance. When the Mokka was first launched it also had not gone through Millbrook and within 2 weeks after the cars launch the suspension settings were altered as a result poor press reviews. As for Detroit, they are well aware of Vauxhalls value which is why the new Astra K lead plant is Ellesmere Port, which also happens to be GM’s 3rd most efficient plant worldwide. Vauxhall is also the UK’s largest producer of commercial vehicles. In addition Vauxhall is also responsible for the sales of Opel in Southern Ireland – although a large number of Vauxhalls near the border with Northern Ireland get sold in the South largely because of the high taxation in Southern Ireland. Vauxhall is also the third largest vehicle manufacturer in the UK overall (2013). If you really do want to know and understand what Vauxhall is about I suggest an evening spent going through vauxpedia.net would be a good idea. Discounting is absolutely rife across the whole of Europe at the moment but Vauxhall certainly is not the biggest in the UK by a long way – oh incidentally THE biggest discounter in Britain at the moment is Chevrolet and that was the case BEFORE they announced their pull-out of Europe. As for the PSA alliance I would watch carefully over the next few months, my contacts at Vauxhall tell me that all is not well and the Chinese are only part of the problems. Lastly, Vauxhall operate as a separate unit to Opel which is why things like the lifetime warranty Vauxhall give is not used by Opel across Europe and also the UK specification of standard equipment is slightly higher, in addition the average transaction price (not list price) is higher for Vauxhall than the average for Opel. Now I’ve got that off my chest time for a coffee and cigarette!
@ David1256:
I can’t see your itention…
What is your problem? Vauxhall is very important to the Opel group. There is no doubt about that. No one would disagree…
“NO VAUXHALL = NO OPEL – PERIOD”
This is very speculative. It is sure that without the British market which is at the moment(!) a very strong market, Opel would have severe problems. No question…
BUT #1: One of the reasons why Vauxhall is so strong is simply that the British market is stronger compared to the rest of Europe. But you can be sure this will change within the next 2 years.
BUT #2: If there was no Vauxhall in Britain, Opel would sell its cars under the Opel brand. The question is how many cars would Opel sell in Britain without the Vauxhall badge. That is the question you can ask yourself…your thought no Vauxhall= 280k units less per year is nonsense because Opel would also sell cars in Britain without the Vauxhall brand. But we can’t say how many. There are some analysts- also in Britain- who think that it would maybe be better to sell the cars under a German brand… I personally think this is a wrong analysis but maybe you overestimate a little bit the contribution of the Vauxhall brand…
@Chris Ecclestone:
Some months ago there was an official report by GM which explained how the Volt/Ampera was developed and which persons were involved. A lot of Opel guys and also some Vauxhall guys came to Detroit and developed the Volt with their GM colleagues. But the operate leader was Frank Weber from Opel. He was responsible for the powertrain and electric propulsion, so the heart of the project if you want. The Opel guys were also responsible for the interior, especially the dashboard with its screen and info-system. After finishing the Volt project, the Opel guys went back to Germany to develop the Ampera which is surely based on the Volt.
No I’m sorry but it is not a case of brand it is volume – without Vauxhall Opel would not be of sufficient size to do what it does now it would be in a similar although not quite so bad a position as Holden in Australia. The numbers would not stack up and Opel if it were to continue would need to import cars from Korea etc with only limited development of it’s own. Opel first came to the UK in 1969 and sold very few cars until in the end they were phased out in 1982 apart from the Manta and Monza which continued until 1987. Opel would not have a hope in hell of selling the number of cars Vauxhall do if they were badged as Opel, By the same token NO OPEL = NO VAUXHALL as well I am clear on that point as well, and don’t get me wrong I am not anti Opel either. Your comment about the UK market would be valid but Germany’s economy is in much better shape than the UK yet Opel only have 6.1% of a similar size market where as Vauxhall is almost double that. I am now going to have another coffee and cigarette!!
You can’t know that: It is possible but you can’t be sure.
Opel has also very strong market shares in Greece, Crotia, Hungary or Spain for example. The problem is that these markets are small…
You can’t also not compare 1987 to today. We have a completley other situation today.
And you can also not compare the UK market to the German market. As I said before the German market (because of the higher scale of domestic brands) is much more competitive than the British market.
In Germany you have only one brand which has more than 10% of market share…in UK you have two for example…
PS: cigarettes are bad 🙂
Yes I can be 100% sure, I used to work for Vauxhall and was around at the time Opel were in Britain. The competitors that Opel face in Germany are exactly the same as those Vauxhall face in the UK – name one that is different! Even though Ford do not make any cars in the UK they are still wrongly perceived as British. There is no point in speculating on Opel replacing Vauxhall in the UK as it will never happen – there is too much risk involved. GM thought, wrongly, that they would eventually be able to replace both Vauxhall and Opel in Europe, how wrong they were, but it didn’t stop them conducting a brand survey across Europe and there were some markets where GM seriously considered dropping the Opel brand but fortunately they didn’t and we are where we are today. You are right there are signs that Opel’s position is improving but progress is very slow and profitability is still a key issue – as I said in another post the current squabbling of the US / Europe & Russia over Ukrain could have a serious impact on this. Yet another coffee and cigarette coming up!!
OK…then I am also 100% about this fact:
If there was no Opel there would be no greater British brand at all nowadays, also not Vauxhall. Fact is that Opel is doing the main work by far when it comes to the development, not Vauxhall. Vauxhall would be to small to develop ist own cars. Vauxhall would also have no chance in contiental Europe because British car brands are nearly not existant here and have a bad image except some sports cars like Aston Martin or Jaguar. But no one would buy a British mainstream car. Look what happened to MG and all the dead old British brands.
Vauxhall is also so strong because of the great quality of the current lineup which was mainly developed in Germany. The cars with high scale, Corsa, Astra, Insignia, Meriva, Mokka, Adam, Zafira were all developed in Rüsselsheim…they were calibrated for British roads….yes, but Ia am sure that all greater car companys do redesign their cars for other countries or continents.
Beside brands you have to understand that Opel and Vauxhall are one Team and not two concurrents under the same roof. So sorry but I still don’t understand what your problem is…
Or have Opel did any harm to Vauxhall…I can’t remember…
You have completely missed the point! I am well aware that without Opel Vauxhall would not be here, I completely agree, but the reverse is also true – without Vauxhall sales Opel would be too small a unit to survive designing and developing its own cars. I am NOT anti Opel, far from it, but the situation Vauxhall is in is considerably better than Opel at the moment. Vauxhall used to sell cars in Europe and did quite well in the Benilux and Nordic countries but don’t judge British cars by crap like Leyland / MG Rover etc they went bust for a reason – they were no good. For information Ellesmere Port is a more efficient plant than any Opel plant in Germany currently and was the reason for the closure of Bocham so Vauxhall are doing their bit for the whole of the GM Europe Team. BTW my nicotine & caffeine levels are going through the roof!!!
It would be a mistake to ever underestimate brand equity and the emotional elements of brand building. Would a Chevy Adam or Chevy Mokka sell as well as Vauxhall: NO.
In Germany, VW has made a powerful emotional bond with consumers much like Ford has in the US (sorry, Chevy) A.D. Buick of China.
I don’t consider Opel doomed but emotional branding attachments last about one generation. Opel must continue producing better and sexier cars than VW, focus on marketing and work for positive media attention.
Vauxhall, on the other hand, is healthier but it would be a mistake to take this for granted given British openness to foreign brands.