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Opel was once the little engine that could

2K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  SierraGS 
#1 ·
http://www.autonews.com/article/20170219/OEM/302209940/opel-was-once-the-little-engine-that-could


February 19, 2017 @ 12:01 am
Richard Johnson

In 1919, General Motors President Billy Durant decided his rapidly growing company needed a foothold in Europe. He sent a team of lieutenants that included Walter Chrysler, Charles Kettering and Alfred P. Sloan to Paris to negotiate the acquisition of Citroen.

The talks fell through, but a decade later, Sloan, who was then running GM, returned to Europe in pursuit of the German company Adam Opel.

That deal got done, and for nearly 90 years, GM has stuck with Opel through thick and thin. Indeed, there has been a lot of thin, including World War II. But GM's ownership of Opel was one of those stable and unchanging docking points in the world that I took for granted. Now GM is sorting out the details of a probable sale of its European operations to PSA Peugeot Citroen.



Dispatched to Germany by Automotive News in 1986, my first big story was a laceration of Opel. Sales were slipping, the new Omega sedan was riddled with quality problems, and dealers were livid. After the article appeared, the new boss at GM Europe, Jack Smith, asked to meet with me. During the conversation, the sides of Smith's face pulsated furiously, but the braveheart reporter stood his ground.

I'm not sure how discerning the story was because almost immediately, Opel turned into the hottest brand in Europe. Under a brilliant engineering chief, Fritz Loehr, the cars had become superb. A new midsize sedan, the Vectra, found a sweet spot in the market. Then came the stunning Calibra coupe, and soon the Opel Astra was matching sales with the Volkswagen Golf.

Gee, great engineering turning things around for an automaker/brand, instead of relying on number-crunchers?

'Tis a pity that the wunderkinds in Smith and Wagoner didn't (or couldn't) do more to turn things around for GM during their respective tenures - while there were improvements like the most sweeping re-organization of a structure that had been in place since the 1920s and better manufacturing efficiency and quality - many of the problems that plagued GM during the 1970s-80s continued to exist.

Wagoner, in particular, should have enacted more drastic changes.
 
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#2 ·
Seems likely if the tables were turned even just ever so slightly..... GM would be buyin' Opel Vauxhall.....

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In 1919, General Motors President Billy Durant decided his rapidly growing company needed a foothold in Europe. He sent a team of lieutenants that included Walter Chrysler, Charles Kettering and Alfred P. Sloan to Paris to negotiate the acquisition of Citroen.

Can you imagine.....

Makes one one wonder who they left off mentioning.
 
#3 ·
Opel was once the little engine that could
February 19, 2017 @ 12:01 am
Richard Johnson
AutoNews.com

In 1919, General Motors President Billy Durant decided his rapidly growing company needed a foothold in Europe. He sent a team of lieutenants that included Walter Chrysler, Charles Kettering and Alfred P. Sloan to Paris to negotiate the acquisition of Citroen.

The talks fell through, but a decade later, Sloan, who was then running GM, returned to Europe in pursuit of the German company Adam Opel.

That deal got done, and for nearly 90 years, GM has stuck with Opel through thick and thin. Indeed, there has been a lot of thin, including World War II. But GM's ownership of Opel was one of those stable and unchanging docking points in the world that I took for granted. Now GM is sorting out the details of a probable sale of its European operations to PSA Peugeot Citroen.

Europe has been a drain on GM for a long time, but Opel did have its glory days and at least once helped keep GM afloat. I was there when it happened.

Dispatched to Germany by Automotive News in 1986, my first big story was a laceration of Opel. Sales were slipping, the new Omega sedan was riddled with quality problems, and dealers were livid. After the article appeared, the new boss at GM Europe, Jack Smith, asked to meet with me. During the conversation, the sides of Smith's face pulsated furiously, but the braveheart reporter stood his ground.

I'm not sure how discerning the story was because almost immediately, Opel turned into the hottest brand in Europe. Under a brilliant engineering chief, Fritz Loehr, the cars had become superb. A new midsize sedan, the Vectra, found a sweet spot in the market. Then came the stunning Calibra coupe, and soon the Opel Astra was matching sales with the Volkswagen Golf.

CONTINUE AT LINK ABOVE
 
#4 ·
Yet someday, the U.S. might go soft again and Europe might be doing just fine, and the people who are running GM might wish it was still a global automaker.
However, if GM focuses on its core North America and China operations and makes them efficient, they will be able to make it through recessions without relying on other parts of the world to bolster the results. Didn't GM say NA can remain profitable even if market volume drops to 11 million annual sales? The old GM couldn't do that.
 
#6 ·
GM has been jealous of Opel/Vauxhall for years and would never acknowledge it's great products, same with Holden.

GM never "got" how you must use your best assets regardless of where they originated from within the organization or which brands would benefit more than others.

Only a mature, strong and visionary management is capable of allowing the smallest members of the "family" to lead it when it makes the most "business sense".

An immature one, plays favorites and ignores greatness and arrogantly thinks they have all of the answers and sells out it's future to "prove it is right", when in the end the extra cost, and more importantly the time costs it everything.
 
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