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Opel targets No. 2 sales spot in Euro comeback drive

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#1 ·
Opel CEO targets No. 2 sales position in Europe in comeback drive

FRANKFURT (Bloomberg) -- Adam Opel AG is targeting second place in deliveries in Europe in the coming years as new models attract buyers.

"We're working on the biggest comeback story in the European auto industry," Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann said in a speech at the manufacturer's plant in Eisenach, Germany. "We've set ourselves clear goals. We want to profitably become the No. 2 in Europe."

General Motors' Opel brand currently is the third-largest brand in the region, behind VW and Ford, according to data from the ACEA trade group.

The nameplate's first-quarter market share rose to 6.8 percent from 6.7 percent.

Volkswagen AG's namesake brand's share in the period stood at 11.8 percent, while Ford Motor Co. had 7.5 percent of the market. GM, which in 2013 was passed by VW in global sales, has been reorganizing brands globally to focus on its strongest regional offerings.
GM plans to break even in Europe by mid-decade after losing more than $18 billion in the region since 1999. Opel is closing a plant in Bochum, the first auto factory to be shuttered in Germany since World War II.

At the same time, the unit is refreshing its mid-sized Insignia car after adding the Adam city car and Mokka compact sport-utility vehicle.

GM will add a variant of the Insignia that in the coming years will also be exported to the United States under the Buick badge, as well as another Opel model that will be announced by the end of the year.
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#2 · (Edited)
A long way to go before they hit the number 2 spot, but still some positive news for Russelheim.

Still, I hope in their quest to move up the sales charts, they aren't sacrificing profits to keep their operations afloat.

Right now the folks at Opel are happy as can be that Chevrolet is pulling out of Western and Central Europe (or at lease their mainstream models are). To make up for that, we all know they are going to introduce some lower-end products to make up for Chevrolet's exit. That's fine, but in trying to capture more volume with these newer/cheaper offerings, let's hope they don't cut so deep that they kill any margins AND damage their brand perception further in their quest to rack up sales.

Obviously having a "cheaper" brand to sell such products under makes sense. VW seems to handle multiple brands quite nicely in these various market segments with Skoda and Seat. I still can't reason why GM can't do the same with Opel and Chevrolet, but there's no way they are going to reverse their decision on selling Chevy products in Europe now.
 
#8 ·
Obviously having a "cheaper" brand to sell such products under makes sense. VW seems to handle multiple brands quite nicely in these various market segments with Skoda and Seat. I still can't reason why GM can't do the same with Opel and Chevrolet, but there's no way they are going to reverse their decision on selling Chevy products in Europe now.
Agreed. While that doesn't help the Chevy brand gain clout in Europe with regards to the Corvette and Camaro, that's probably not important. A VW-Seat relationship to Opel-Chevrolet in Europe might have worked. Of course, I still oppose taking Chevrolet out of Europe to begin with.

Meanwhile Hyundai-Kia are still small, yet continue to grow in Europe while we play musical chairs with what brands are/aren't going to be sold in various European countries. Fiat-Chrysler did the same too with the whole Lancias here, Chryslers there that has already been changed to pretty much just Chryslers.
 
#7 ·
Well said, all l want to see is the Opel money-pit making a decent profit not another true to for -$18 billion in losses that made on impossible to make a profit on the roof small FWD econobox's, if Opel was has horse you would not put bet on them with such poor performance based on the current real-world true-to-form book, not unless the US taxpayer can keep sending them boatloads of cash the Old GM way of doing things in the last decade offer huge discounts to shift dull FWD cars to Hertz at huge losses in big batches.

FT reported GM's private car sales at 40% are very low, and is no way to run a sustainable business. Personally l would like to see more high profit yielding cars introduced into the huge loss Opel money pits line-up, a better drivetrain choice other than small FWD huge loss making cars. A decent fuel efficient RWD car, and maybe a light duty GMC small pick-up truck that someone else suggested here that could take on the Hilux that sells 650,000 trucks outside of North America last year - both are high profit yielding that could drive up profits at GM in Europe.

When l look at whats arriving new arrive at Ford they are high profit yield making cars, GM won't absolutely anything on its new cars at all, the new small FWD Opel Agila is gonna generate anything on the roof of every sale it makes, it does not inspire me with all that much confidence in GM will turn things around in the EU..
 
#4 · (Edited)
LOL would like to see it happen but GM will slip down the sales number charts when Chevy pulls out of Europe.

Ford have got a lot of really good products coming to Europe including RHD/LHD & various engine choices versions of the Mustang that will lift Ford closer to VW in the future. Ford's arrival of the Mustang flagship will be a massive lift big for the whole EU car market put a spark of magic back into a very dull car market.

UK is both GM and Fords biggest single market in Europe for their cars, Ford deliver their product well GM can't even stick a steering wheel on the correct side of a British bound very expensive to buy Corvette or Cadillac to save a few bucks. Ford will see the biggest upswing in sales without any doubt, the new Mustang will act like a big sales magnet in hundreds of UK small town dealerships, folk might not buy one but they will probably end up test driving another Ford and buy it instead, when they might not have even bothered to enter a Ford showroom, will just 1 UK Cadillac dealer and probably one very expensive car sitting with a steering wheel fitted to the wrong side of the car, the only person interested in the sitting in the car will be the Cadillac car showroom cleaner who probably cycled in to work on an old bone shaker bike.

Ford just see to do/deliver things the right way, haves some very good product arriving market share will get boosted. Sorry to say but l can only see GM sales are set to falling in Europe once Korean made Chevy pack their bags GM are more likely to fall drop down 1 place in the EU sales charts. Sorry to sound so negative, l can't see Opel boosting sales without big huge discounts which is the exact same way Old GM use to run Opel and lost $18 billions in the process, not a very good business model, the Mustang will do it naturally 10,000 Stang sales in Europe will produce the same profits as 60,000 Focus sales so Ford of Europe are onto a high profit margin winner that earns its keep..

2014 EU sales YTD
1. VW Group 785,975
2. PSA Peugeot/Citroen 363,790
3. Renault/Dacia 303,432
4. General Motors (With Chevy Sales today) 247,897
5. Ford 247,042
5. General Motors (Future when Chevy leave the EU) 222,897
6. Fiat Group 199,895
7. BMW 195,040

Ford will overtake General Motors who will drop to No5 when the RHD Mustang cruises into Europe with the dull drab shaped hapless Mondeo now getting a new set of very nice Aston Martin tin cloths from the US Fusion, both Ford and Renault with its austerity friendly Dacia brand will be much closer to stealing PSA No2 spot in Europe, more closer to being a true story than this fairy tale.

Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann is window dressing at Opel.
 
#13 ·
I just love when Americans starts to tell what Opel should do and sell xD
Pick-up truck market in Europe is monor or doesn't even exist, because people jjust don't want to drive that and there is no need for it at all. Most of european population lives in big cities and there is no need for them to have big trucks. They buy small cars and thats the right way for Opel. Why?! Because, its better to have Agila which will be a good seller, and which will retain its value for longer period after purchasing so with time Opel brand will become more valuable in market ;) Getting a big car like BMW 7, or Mercedes S-class would be death verdict for them. Because that marketshare is held by Mercedes-BMW-Audi, and people who wants to have a big car will pay for them, they will not buy an Opel even if they have same characteristics and much lower price. Thats just the way it goes. Even those who would buy it in two years would lose more than half of their money, so with time Opel would lose its value, and became something like american cars in europe- gas eaters, you can buy for lower price tags than agila ;)

What is very very good for Opel is the thing that in next two years it will have all new models on the market -you can expect new Agila, Corsa, Astra, Insignia, Antara, Zafira and even Ampera so in times when market in Europe is starting to grow again after couple of years decline Opel, is going to have newest models there. :D Ford, Peugeot and Citroen are not in that position. Maybe only Renault, but they already have new Clio on the market, and you can expect new Megane and Laguna on the market now :/
 
#15 ·
Unless I've missed it, no one has been promoting the idea of an Opel pickup or S-Class competitor.....? :001_huh:

I think I remember some rumors of a new large Opel based on the LaCrosse or otherwise, but that would be more like what the Opel Omega was anyway, not the S-Class. Plus I think those they like that idea think of it as more of a symbolic car for the Opel lineup, not a volume piece.
 
#22 ·
Right, so they need models that will build that image. Volkswagens Phaeton was also huge mistake for them, so models like that you can buy now very cheep and for me that's bad marketing for brand and for owners of those cars. When car can keep its price for 4-5 years as used car that points that it is "good" so brand gets more valuable xD
I like Opel and many people who likes it and would like for example new Calibra to come on the market, but they don't have money to buy it for maybe 40,000euros if it comes out on the market so Opel doesn't have any use of us who would be happy to see it on the streets and dream about it. They need real market and real people who would pay that much money for Opel's coupe, and i think there is not enough people who would do that at this moment :) When you are loosing money, you don't need souch "exclusive" models, you should play on safe. That is my opinion :)
 
#23 ·
Yes, VW miscalculated with the Phaeton. It was a nice image car for them, but it was not exciting enough to become an icon of upcoming more luxurious VW models. And in the US, it was $65,000 back in 2003, much more than the biggest Lexus or Infiniti and not that much cheaper than the base V-8 German cars. VW also messed up the Passat W-8, making it too expensive and not "special" enough for the price.

If Opel must make an image executive car, then like you said an Insignia four door coupe might be a start. In my opinion, it could be an Insignia mechanically but should look totally different (and upscale) inside and out, and not use the Insignia name. Maybe have the Insignia's 1.6T, 2.0T, and a turbo-6 (the Cadillac 3.6TT is probably too much power, uses too much petrol, and could be too expensive) and also the turbodiesel 2.0L and twin-turbodiesel 2.0L. But that car has to have a lot of style and be impressive to make it worthwhile for the brand. It can't just be another executive car.

Mostly they need to get their quality to high standards and market the cars well.
 
#26 ·
I respect ur opinion but you need to live in europe to understand this market. I'm so excited about Opel's new 1.0 turbo and thinking of buying one in my next car, and I can't understand why americans wouldn't buy it... But thats just the way it goes and you can't change it. Same is with pick-up Opels, and RWD Opel. People doesn't need and like that. I believe that all sold pickups in one month have smaller numbers than Corsa.
 
#27 ·
You mean the 1.0L turbo I-4 like in the Adam? As long as it made enough power, it should be fine in small cars in the US. Ford will sell EcoBoost I-3s here.

We are helped by cheap petrol prices here in the US. If our petrol cost as much as yours, big RWD cars would sell badly here too! :eek:
 
#30 ·
Bmw is starting to use FWD chasis for the first time in history now, and wll offer smaller models with it. I think that is a good answer to your idea :) I believe u like cars and ur excited about driving them, but 99% of users isnt. They just use them as transportation and look for different things in cars. RWD is different to drive and many people are afraid to drive it at all. If someone is racer and wants RWD his option is not Opel. Opel needs to focus on higher volume, not some minor markets just tu satisfy somebodys wish to have rwd opel :)
 
#31 · (Edited)
Very please that BMW are going over to low rent FWD they might end up with some $18 billion losses like Opel made in the last decade selling low rent junk, the best news l have heard in ages.


Low volume quality car producer RWD BMW 3 Series outsold every car in the low rent mass produced Opel's line-up except the Corsa in 2013:mad:, all the top quality producers BMW & Mercedes Benz RWD cars pissed outsold Insignia & Mondeo between in Europe last year:mad: in the past Ford's RWD Cortina/Taunus was No1 best selling car in Europe when it was offered as a "CHOICE" to day the bean counters won't allow them to do this at Opel they are going for the £1 poundland $1 Euroland low rent building cars on the cheap and losing $18 billions:mad: in the process by using expensive German labor to built them with.

AWD is best in a few markets if you live on a Scandinavian covered mountain top might be worth thinking about is the best car, but in places like the UK which is GM's biggest market you only get small snow flurry 1 week a year it's a total waste of money, best drivetrain for the UK better than AWD would be RWD for 358 days a year.

UK biggest market in EU for GM.
358 days a year RWD is the best drive
7 days a year AWD is the best drive (for the odd bit of snow)
0 days a year FWD is the best drive




You must have not grown up yet?

Nurburgring when will a crap cheap n' nasty to sling together Avis/Hertz special Opel FWD car crack into the top 100 places, the answer never!!


BMW & Mercedes Benz don't cut corners with low rent crap FWD, they then can charge premium prices for great drives, let hope BMW drivers downsize in to small FWD cars and they start losing $18 billions in Europe like Opel will be a big plus to start seeing the German quality car makers start losing huge money:D in stead of making huge profits on RWD:D, sadly it will wipe out wipe out both Ford both Opel in Europe in the process:mad: which l don't like one:mad:, as they have killed they domineer have wiped out the Mondeo/Insignia market:mad:, now they will wipe out take over the low rent market with clever pricing, but a the end of the day they will start making huge losses using the worlds most expensive labor in Germany:D be like Opel but kill them off with a BMW badge:mad:.

We need more cars built of the crap Delta FWD Astra - Ion - Cobolt - G5 platform that drags General Motors through mud where poor ole Mary Barra has had to spend most of her time in her new job has been in courts defending crappy FWD cars, that will cost GM billions in compensation claims, those FWD Delta cars that killed 2 brands & GM customers off. On top of that GM Opel Money-Pit has cost GM $18 billions in losses in Europe in the last decade.

Personally it does not bother me if Opel make 100 different model FWD cars to sell at $18 billion losses in Europe if the Mugs in the USA want to keep shipping boatloads of cash of to keep a bunch of losers like Opel going (send another $5.2 billions on a barge earlier this year to Opel money pit) only they are to blame if they prop up Avis/Hertz bound FWD crap, what does bother me is their is no fuel efficient RWD choice not even 1 model in the Opel line-up that can create big revenue for GM, that can take the Battle to cars like BMW 320D 80 MPG 150 MPH magic that is the biggest most profit making car in Europe at this moment in time, something that don't have in the Opel line-up, and the RWD BMW 3 Series outsold every mass produced car in the Opel line-up except the Corsa last year.
 
#32 ·
^ repost?
 
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