General Motors currently sells a pickup truck in nearly every continent. The global Colorado is sold in Oceania, Asia, the Middle East and South America, while the Utility, sold as the Montana elsewhere, is offered in Africa. The only place where a pickup isn’t offered by the The General is Europe, and we’re starting to wonder if that should change.
Europe isn’t a very large pickup truck market, but there’s enough consumer interest for VW and Toyota to sell the Amarok and the Hilux there. It seems possible that Opel/Vauxhall could develop a pickup truck to compete with these two, in addition to others such as the Nissan Navarra (Frontier), and the Mitsubishi L200.
The cheapest and easiest way to create an Opel pickup would be for the brand to re-badge the global Colorado and update its styling with more European cues. It could also be offered with Opel’s 2.0-liter CDTI Bi-Turbo diesel engine, which would be a good competitor to the Amarok’s 2.0-liter TDI diesel. The 2.8-liter Duramax four, which will soon arrive in the US market Colorado, could also be offered for those seeking more torque.
Do you think an Opel/Vauxhall pickup is worth GM’s time and money? According to Left Lane, VW only sold 510 non-commercial Amaroks in Europe last year, and while the Hilux is a bit more popular than the Amarok, the Euro pickup truck market is still comparatively small. We still think both those trucks could use some additional competition, so let us know if you agree below.
Comments
makes absolutely no sense!!!
…would be an epic waste of money!
Opel has really many other problems than the lack of an pickup in its portfolio…
What problems? But why not. if the experiment does not know it. if you can make a decent thing to go well. People want decent stuff. Amarok is a higher grade than the hilux, or anything else. But Opel will definitely change for the better. Opel should only get better and better cars that offer a very high quality. all the tiny details must be of good quality otherwise the attainment of success. Today, Opel wants to reach the same level of VW. I am really ashamed that Opel wants to become as good as vw today. I’m really jealous over how VW is working. renewed corsa, Karl and some models are not as good quality details. If you look at the VW models it is difficult to find any flaws. Opel models already on the pictures found errors in the details. I hope that the new Opel Astra and Insignia focuses on serious and Opel has put all bets these models .
But try midsize Truck! the price of the car is decent, why not buy it rather than Amarok or something else. amarok is different class .of course, also depends on the equipment to.
We Europeans prefer “pick-up’s” based on light commercial vehicles, e.g. the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, Opel/Vauxhall Movano, Ford Transit or the VW T5, which are all very popular and sell in large numbers here.
There is no reason why Vauxhall / Opel could not offer a full range of commercial vehicles in the same way Bedford used to some years ago, the co op arrangements GM has with Renault, Peugeot & Isuzu mean it could offer a complete range of commercial vehicles from car based vans to trucks. Whether or not the financial numbers would stack up is another story.
It would be a great addition to a already excellent range. Back in the day we had Brava for years then briefly the Maloo V8, currently there is no pick up yet rivals include Ford, VW, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubushi, Isuzu & Chinese imports. It’s not a massive market, but it’s a market GM should pursue.
I think it would be a no brainer.
I already have many customers who love their full size American trucks and I think offering a smaller easier to drive model with better MPG would be very welcomed there in many areas. I would not expect them in London but in the outer areas and the northern countries they would be very popular.
Now I would have one recommendation here. Do not sell tem as Vauxhall and Opel but as a GMC. This way you can work them in as independent and leave the work to GMC here to do the heavy work and let Opel and Vauxhall address the specific needs they would like.
This way you have one truck to sell at both companies and you do not burden them with dealing with all the aspects of the trucks. Also if things don’t work out you just erase GMC from the market.
As of now Europe is the only market that GM has not sold truck in on a large scale. Everyone else has a version of a GM truck large and small.
Europe as everyone else are now forced into ever smaller cars and trucks provide a way to get things home that you can not get home in a Smart Car or Fiat 500.
Besides it would piss the Green Party off.
GM could use it’s size & global portfolio to it’s advantage, we have already seen this in the new Spark/Karl/Viva. This way any niche market such as this one for example could be filled.
Yes, but they must be Chevrolets, not Opels.
If Opel is going to be competitive in a niche maket in Europe, it will have to use e global car. A Chevy Colorado could therefore make sense provided it meets the European standard in terms of finish, design and economy.
In Italy and France we have the Isuzu Dmax that shares its ladder chassis platform, body construction, mechanical componentry and interior design (dash, centre stack, steering wheel and doors) with the American Chevrolet Colorado. From A-pillar on back Isuzu Dmax appears to be a clone of Chevy Colorado but gets its own visual identity due to an aggressive angular front fascia with upswept headlights and a more conventional grille design. Built in Thai plant with unique 2.5 diesel engine.
http://srv2.betterparts.org/images/isuzu-d-max-08.jpg
Not sure about continental Europe, but tax breaks in the UK means high-spec pick-ups are reasonably popular as company cars, particularly the Mitsubishi L200, Nissan Navara and Ford Ranger. Isuzu D-Max and Land Rover Defenders are loved by farmers and those living in very rural areas. From the late 70’s to the mid 90’s the Isuzu KB and TF’s were re-badged and marketed as Vauxhall Brava/Opel Campo and from memory seemed to sell fairly well, certainly in the UK.
The surprising vehicle missing from the Euro line-up has to be the Corsa based Chevrolet Utility/Montana (now in its 3rd generation). It’s built in Brazil and South Africa and market segment leader in both those countries. It’s right-sized for Europe, already available in both left and right hand drive, in a variety of specifications and featuring Euro-5/6 compliant power-trains. What’s not to like?
Bizarre that this ready-made solution has been over-looked by GME for so long. GMSA’s plant in Port Elizabeth already exports this vehicle in RHD and LHD to markets across Africa. Given the number of SA built 3-Series, C-Klasses and Golfs that are supplied to Europe, the cost of shipping is surely not the reason for GME not to explore this opportunity further.
You’d think with the rising popularity of SUV’s, pick up variants would come too. According to motoring magazines at the time GM was considing selling the Crewman Cross8 here. With regards the Corsa based pick up (it’s very small), it’s a niche in a niche with no rivals meaning it would probably sell in such small numbers & at best could possibly get a cult following like Suzuki Jimny. Skoda, VW, Fiat & Proton have all tried small pick ups with limited success whilst the bigger medium pick ups (such as Toyota, Nissan etc) have faired better
Hope that it will not seem like the S-max as do Chevrolet in Algeria is doing. They first sold the Colorado in simple and double cab, and now they shift to a re badged D-max. Saying that its the new Colorado. its weird.