GM’s Opel and Vauxhall brands sold 97,689 passenger cars in the 28 markets of the European Union while The Blue Oval moved 108,684 units — a full 10,995 more than The General. The results continue the long-time sales lead Ford has enjoyed over GM in Europe.
Ford Grows Faster
September 2015Â sales results for both automakers represent healthy volume gains:
- The 97,689 passenger cars sold by Opel-Vauxhall represent a 5.8 percent increase year-over-year
- The 108,684 passenger cars sold by Ford represent an 8 percent increase year-over-year
Sales Results - September 2015 - European Union 28 - GM Summary By Brand
| Brand | September 2015 / September 2014 | September 2015 | September 2014 | YTD 2015 / YTD 2014 | YTD 2015 | YTD 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM Group Total | +5.8% | 97,689 | 92,314 | +1.4% | 716,306 | 706,179 |
| Opel/Vauxhall | +6.4% | 97,579 | 91,696 | +6.4% | 713,596 | 670,965 |
| Chevrolet | -81.3% | 110 | 587 | -93.1% | 2,414 | 35,004 |
| Other GM | -100% | 0 | 31 | +41% | 296 | 210 |
Sales Results - September 2015 - European Union 28 - Ford Motor Company
| Brand | September 2015 / September 2014 | September 2015 | September 2014 | YTD 2015 / YTD 2014 | YTD 2015 | YTD 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford | +8% | 108,684 | 100,641 | +7% | 768,245 | 718,078 |
Market Share
The sales volume gains made by both automakers throughout the month are not enough to boost their market share:
- Opel-Vauxhall market share dropped 0.3 percentage points from 7.5 to 7.2 percent
- Ford market share was down 0.1 percentage points from 8.1 to 8.0 percent
Market Share - September 2015 - European Union - General Motors
| Brand | September 2015 - September 2014 | September 2015 | September 2014 | YTD 2015 - YTD 2014 | January 2015 - September 2015 | January 2014 - September 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM Total: | -0.3% | 7.2% | 7.5% | -0.5% | 6.9% | 7.4% |
| Opel-Vauxhall: | -0.2% | 7.2% | 7.4% | -0.1% | 6.9% | 7.0% |
| Chevrolet: | 0% | 0% | 0% | -0.4% | 0% | 0.4% |
| GM Other: | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Market Share - September 2015 - European Union 28 - Ford Motor Company
| Brand | September 2015 - September 2014 | September 2015 | September 2014 | YTD 2015 - YTD 2014 | January 2015 - September 2015 | January 2014 - September 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford: | -0.1% | 8.0% | 8.1% | -0.1% | 7.4% | 7.5% |
As expected, Ford’s higher sales volume gives it a higher market share than that of GM in the region for September. But even though Ford grew at a faster rate than GM, it’s worth noting that — at 9.8 percent — the EU’s auto industry grew faster than both of the American automakers.
Brand Consolidation
General Motors is now finished removing Chevrolet from Europe’s mainstream vehicle segments. The only Chevrolet vehicles still on sale in the region are the Camaro and Corvette. The two sports cars accounted for a measly 110 sales the EU 28 market in September.
By comparison, Chevrolet was responsible for 12,042 sales in the European Union in October 2013, itself an increase of 3.7 percent compared to October 2012. Was General Motors too hasty in its decision to withdraw the brand from Europe’s mainstream segments? Let’s put it this way: had GM been able to count those 12,000 Chevrolet registrations towards its October 2015 sales tally, it would have outsold Ford by roughly a thousand units.
Going Forward
Alas, GM is going forward without Chevrolet in Europe, focusing all of its efforts on Opel and Vauxhall, with the former sold across continental Europe and the latter sold in the United Kingdom. But if GM truly wants to lead in the marketplace, it will need to increase Opel’s sales performance by not only growing as fast as the market, but by outpacing it fair and square — something it did not do in September.
Notes About The Numbers
- Referenced sales figures are for September 2015 for the European Union 28 (28 markets of the European Union)
- Referenced sales figures sourced from European Automotive Manufacturers Association (ACEA)
- Referenced sales figures are only for passenger car registrations and do not include light commercial vehicle registrations
Comments
Well thank you Captain Obvious!
Why don’t you make some useful suggestions that can help GM/Opel grow in this competitive market, instead of wasting your own and everyone else’s time with a useless comment.
good job doing ford in september. how they go last day ahaaaaa. ok this not funny but ford made nice cars to .i like they cars to not all cars like same thing to gm factory. but i m gm fann and opel lover but i dont hate ford
That’s the problem. Ford makes good cars everywhere. They are the same good cars everywhere. The same strong brand everywhere. GM doesn’t enjoy that any more with Chevrolet, which has been turned by a bunch of short-sighted executives into a regional brand. So good luck competing with and outselling global giants like Ford and VW.
What do you want me to say????
This is nothing new as Ford has been a Euro brand for decades. They are seen and considered a part of the club.
As for Opel they have many good things coming along with the joint Buick rebuild but the product is not here yet. Even then it will be slow growth.
Cadillac will come in with more slow growth when the time is right as will an influx of Corvette and Camaro. I would love to see the GMC Canyon imported as it would fit Europe well.
There is just little that needs to be said as things are in the works and we just have to wait till they come to pass. repeating these headlines do little to make things better and we just need to get used to them till the product arrives.
GM will not be dominate in Europe anytime soon as this is a long term slow growth market here.
Now mix in the wild cards of Economic issues already there and the Middle East refugees coming in taxing an already broken system. Finally not if but when the ISIS people who did slip in make their move it will mess with global markets.
So was I really wasting anyone’s time or was this story really the key to wasting my time?
Ford has been a Euro brand… and Opel has not? That was the whole point behind dropping Chevy in Europe, as it was not seen as a European brand thanks to GM’s massive mismanagement of it in the 90s and early 2000s, bringing Daewoo shit under the Chevrolet marque to Europe.
Regarding the rest of your comment: the problem is not product. All of your comments are revolve around the game of waiting for new product, then things will be rosy. This is not so right now. The Opel product range is actually very competitive, and in many segments better than Ford. Of course, having 3 crossovers vs. Opel’s 1 helps Ford tremulously. But that’s not the point either. The point is GM needs to improve the brand image of Opel, and do so in targeted geo and demo markets in Europe. If you study where Ford is strong and why, you will see what I am referring to.
As for wasting time… if your initial comment was as good as the one you posted after, I would be a happy camper. And if you don’t want to waste your precious time reading certain articles, may I suggest the fine art of simply skipping over them? 😉
Ford has been a global brand and Opel has not. Even when sold here for a while they were not even German.
Ford has been in Europe since the model T and they tailored their cars to the market 75 years ago. You would have to be foolish to think Chevy would just drop in and compete right off.
The key is to wait for the new product and rebuild over time. You are not going to fix this in a year or even 5 years.
As to for my comment they are not here to make you happy or sad. If I want to let a sour one go it is going to happen. I was not in a good mood and sometimes silly stories like this annoy me. It is what it is.
Ford has had a large foot print in Europe for a long time and Opel has had a diminished presents for too long. You can lose the market fast but it takes more time and more good product to win it back. Also it is a very crowded market so if you are not a leader you can get overshadowed fast.
Opel has for too long tried to be Chevy and Buick all in one. They tied to move Opel to just being Buick and brought in Chevy but Chevy really did not have any Euro models that they could sell.
GM could do this again but they need to do it like Ford and have a Chevy of Germany and Chevy of Great Brittan and make them part of the culture and tailor cars for their market. Even Honda does not enjoy the advantage they have in America in Europe.
As for now you need to let them release the new cars and see what happens as Opel is like Buick and is one of the last to really get much in the way of new products to get anyone’s attention.
For the most part selling Cruze in China is easy as Chinese love American products and cars in particular. In Europe they want the cars they drive to be a part of them and their culture. Ford to them is not as much an American Company as they for decades have had their own cars that we did not get.
Opel made some junk and fell behind. Getting back on the horse will take time as they have had to run the horse down.
Losing an Auto customer is just like any other business as it takes twice as much money and time to get them back than it takes to retain them.
‘Ford has been a global brand and Opel has not.’
And that has essentially been the root of Opel-Vauxhall problems. GM Europe platforms and bodies have in the past been used by every division of GM aside from Hummer! Had GME received appropriate royalties over the years from every GM division, the likelihood is that it would never have been a loss-maker. Yes, one can argue GM is a global company and therefore it’s only wooden dollars, but it still reflects badly on the published GME accounts.
Take for example alone the 1973 ‘T-car World’ platform, developed jointly by Opel and Vauxhall and sold as the Kadett/Chevette ‘C’. This model can lay claim to being the most badge-engineered platform ever, marketed across the world variously as – Opel, Vauxhall, Chevrolet, Bedford, Pontiac, Isuzu, Holden, Daewoo, Grumett, Ameysa, Saehan, Maepsy, Kalinda, Bird, and YES, even as the GMC 180 in Argentina.
It was built in Germany, the UK, Belgium, Brazil, USA, Japan, Uruguay, Ecuador, Argentina, Venezuela, Hungary, South Korea and Malaysia – I don’t think I’ve missed any.
Then followed ‘J-car’ in 1980, again developed by GME. By then, Vauxhall engineering had logically consolidated with Opel in Russelsheim. This time around, the GMC and Bedford brands didn’t make the cut, but Buick, Oldsmobile and even Cadillac got a share of the spoils.
As for Opel-Vauxhall Corsa B … during the 1990’s it was one of the biggest selling vehicles globally, regularly beating the Toyota Corolla and Ford F-series to first place, under its various Opel, Vauxhall, Chevrolet, Holden and Buick (China) guises.
There are countless other platform examples, with even Saturn getting in on the act.
But GME and particularly Opel, has never received proper recognition and payment for its contribution to GM Group. Only since Chapter 11 re-structuring has GM really started to act like a true global-player, with divisions finally cross-sharing and co-developing best practice.
Do not get the engineering groups mixed up with sales.
The shared platforms have been done for many years and the engineering staffs are paid budgets not royalties. That is how it is done. They are not compensated by sales internally.
Even more so today each platform may be assigned to a specific division to be based but is contributed by most of the others anymore. GM finally got the global platform thing figured out as you can not design one in one place and make it fit all.
Ford has known better and built different cars with different divisions for different market. Though they slipped on the Mekur. Today they are designing jointly and now making a global car for the world and that is why we are now seeing more product similar here as there.
The truth is GM really did not grow the Opel brand in the last 30-40 years properly. They were generally treated as a secondary market as GM was more focused on NA as it was failing. Even today they are more important but yet like Buick were in line to get the changes last.
For too long we saw Opels at work in their own little world and if we saw one here it was on old one from the 60’s and or It was built by Izusu and shipped here with an Opel name.
The last real time Opel was seen as a global player I think Bob Lutz was there and that was a long time ago.
GM really missed their mark with Opel in America by not putting more into them and bringing them here is 1973-74 from Europe as a quick answer to Honda and Toyota during the gas Crunch. the few we did get were not much and often not even built by them.
And Scott 3, that is exactly my point … apologies if I didn’t make it clearer. For far too long right up to Chapter 11, it has just been one way traffic, with GME expertise headed to all corners of the globe and nothing coming back in return (with the sole exception of the U-body/GMT200 minivan platform briefly sold as the Opel-Vauxhall Sintra).
Finally we are starting to see the fruits of a cohesive global game-plan with all the regional engineering silos inter-linked.
Let’s just hope it’s not too late.
You need to understand how the Engineering works.
An engineering division may be under a divisions name but they all contribute globally and have for a good while. GM split up the load and specific things to different divisions.
Then GM also has traded and moved engineers and designers to different divisions to learn and contribute.
Just because Opel contributed was not a guarantee they would be rewarded with product.
It is clearer to see this in how GM did engines back in the 80’s and 90’s where the V8 was for the most part Chevy deal other than the N Star. The 4 was Pontiac with the Iron Duke and the V6 was mostly the Buick. Each division worked on that specific engine but share it with everyone else. There were a few side engines like the 60 degree Chevy V6 and the Opel OHC 4 but it was just how GM spread the work out.
Now as for why Opel was ignored. GM had much worse issues here in NA the primary market. GM has been going broke for several decades and really was living just off the income mostly from the Trucks. They literally were living hand to mouth for most of it. Pontiac nearly was Axed in the early 80’s and got a reprieve only then was Olds on the hot seat then.
The bottom line was Opel was maintained not grown as GM has bigger fish to fry. This too affected Holden too as lets face it their never got what they should have gotten over the years and only now like with Opel GM is scrambling to find ways to make them profitable and relevant again.
Ford has a strong business plan. GM could learn some thing from selling world cars across its many brands.
Now that Chevy China will have its own unique platforms built with SAIC for developing markets, Buick USA is the only thing preventing a global Opel based car and small SUV lineup to be sold under the General’s various nameplates in mature markets.
Hold on a sec. Chevy China platforms will be for emerging markets only, as you say (it’s actually just one modular platform, by the way). Just like the Sail is for emerging markets only. It does not affect other markets, so I don’t really see how it applies to anything else GM is doing outside of those markets.