Opel experienced an 8-percent sales dip in Europe in the first quarter, and designers at GM plan to give the storied German brand some of its mojo back by moving design and content upscale. GM says the move upmarket will result in a relatively inexpensive one- to three-percent price hike, but in return customers can expect sexier sheet metal, better packaging and more technology. The move makes sense as GM's value-conscious Chevy brand has steadily increased its presence across the Atlantic, giving the General the opportunity to push Opel up the automotive food chain. GM's plan is already underway, too, as the gorgeous Insignia is due to hit the showroom floor before the end of the year.
[Source: Auto News (subs req'd)]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Avinash machado @ May 13th 2008 9:26AM
I thought that SAAB was GM's upmarket brand in Europe while Opel was the mainstream brand. So where does Opel's upmarket push leave SAAB?
Yaroukh @ May 13th 2008 9:44AM
I don't believe Saab is in condition to make an impact in Europe. I agree with below stated - Saab is useless.
I wouldn't be surprised if GM decided to sell it or shut it down. I am not sure who to blame but to me Saab looks almost dead brand.
imoore @ May 13th 2008 10:23AM
This shouldn't have too much of an effect on Saab, except to place it closer to BMW and Mercedes, in Europe at least. This is where Saab needs to be anyway. The real trick will be keeping it from crossing into Cadillac's market share, but that should't be a problem in Europe. My real concern is the use of the Chevrolet brand. Chevy would be wise to use some of its US models in the global mix to make it more valuable. I know some of the Korean models are pretty good, but I understand the mid-sized Epica is a real flop. Holden can't sell the cars in Australia because nobody really wants them. And Suzuki dropped its version, called Verona, and opted out on its replacement because of poor quality and weak power. Give the world a Malibu instetad.
psarhjinian @ May 13th 2008 12:27PM
Avinash,
That's a good question. GM could either be very smart, or very stupid in doing this:
Smart: move Opel upmarket to create space for Chevrolet (which, in Europe, is an imported of Daewoos) to compete against the likes of Daihatsu. Saab moves further upmarket to compete with BMW, Mercedes et al. This would require GM to get rid of Cadillac in Europe altogether--a good move, as far as I'm concerned.
Stupid move: As above, but keep pouring money into Cadillac in Europe. I think it's been proven that Saab doesn't do well in North America and Cadillac is a failure in Europe. Yet GM seems hell-bent to screw up Saab on both continents, while flushing dollars down the toilet trying to get Europeans to buy Cadillacs, even to the point of rebadging a Saab (the 9-3) as the Cadillac BLS.
I'd bet on the second: GM cannot resist an opportunity to cannibalize sales. They have a nice, clean line-up in Europe (Chevy/Opel/Saab) that works well against other brands. Why they see fit to duplicate their North American screwups in Europe is unfathomable.
Hey, for kicks, let's prognosticate the following case:
Stupider: Let's assume GM is really dumb and decides to try and move Chevy into Opel's space. So now, they have four brands fighting over the same customers, spending two to four times the marketing and product planning budget as they did when all they had was Opel and Saab. And they're still not selling more cars, because if you thought the North American market was crowded, Europe is packed to the gills and I can't see GM making more than tiny gains against VW, Renault, Ford or Toyota, let alone Hyundai, FIAT, PSA, BMW, Nissan, etc, etc...
Noidor @ May 13th 2008 9:29AM
Smart, they ought to do the same in NA market to distinguish it from Chevy, Pontiac, Saab. But not so much where it'd compete against Cadillac. Therefore 3% increase is very much reasonable, and undoubtedly will help brand's image.
As long as design and handling characterists are different from other brands then Opel should be in good shape and not worry about taking sales away from these brands.
I also think they need to kill Saturn and Vauxhall and sell Opel worldwide to take on VW brand.
TBlueMax @ May 13th 2008 9:32AM
I would gladly pay a 3% premium for an Opel-derived Saturn here in the States. Now where's my sexy, reliable, fuel-efficient Insignia (Aura) sportwagon?
Noidor @ May 13th 2008 9:33AM
Saab needs be sold...it's useless to GM.
Yago Bal @ May 13th 2008 9:45AM
Saab is developing turbo engines, ethanol engines, epsilon II and hybrid delta platforms and plug-in hybrid technology, besides the usual safety systems, for GM... It's quite central for the group and it has little to do with the number of cars Saab sells.
Yaroukh @ May 13th 2008 9:40AM
The gallery suc*s. Terribly resized images, no AJAX.
Soccer Mom @ May 13th 2008 9:55AM
Try clicking "High-Res" button located in the top-right corner. It will improve image quality.
Yaroukh @ May 13th 2008 10:05AM
Wrong. No offense but your "solution" adds yet another page to be loaded which is exactly what suc*s on this gallery.
P.S.: RMB + "View Image" is faster.
Guenther @ May 13th 2008 10:48AM
Loads just fine- get a better browser
Yaroukh @ May 13th 2008 10:50AM
Where exactly did I state that it doesn't load?
Get your head out of your youknowwhat.
Guenther @ May 13th 2008 11:06AM
Doesn't add another page. Ask for your money back.
Yaroukh @ May 13th 2008 11:10AM
Wrong. New HTML-document gets loaded for each and every image.
Thanks for playing Guenther!
Soccer Mom @ May 13th 2008 9:53AM
Good news for Saturn.
nagmashot @ May 13th 2008 9:57AM
Funny after smart GM US manager copletely killed Opel reputation in Europe they want to upmarket the brand... they need 20 years till the brand recovered from the mistakes they have done the last ten years..
"Good enough for the USA, is good enough for the rest of the world" politic by GM manager did not work well in europe... europen customers gave a clear answer.."no it is not"..
Noidor @ May 13th 2008 12:04PM
What was the name of that manager?
nagmashot @ May 13th 2008 3:19PM
It was not one, GM send many manager trying to push back Opel ... but all of them did not understand the Europen market and models which were asked here. Ending in extrem poor quality and lame models. The starter of all Problems was Lopez.. he was a GM production plant chief in Saragossa and a cost killer no matter how much the quality drops... GM moved him to Opel in 1987... he was the kickstart for a dramatic quality drop... which was getting more and more worse with every new chairman GM was sending to Opel..
Disgruntled Goat @ May 13th 2008 9:58AM
So when to we get the Aura/Malibu version? Is that due for the end of the year as well? Man, that is one great looking sedan.