More GM-Euro Double-Trouble-Speak: Double Chevrolet Sales!
If the managers at Opel are feeling a little queasy today, this should have them running for the Alka Seltzer (or whatever Germans use). As if to throw (more) gas on the conflagration raging at Opel, Brent Dewar, vice president of Chevrolet, announced at the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit that GM is targeting sales of 1 million Deawoo-Chevrolets in Europe, double the 500,000 vehicles sold in 2008.
“We have that in our business plan to take that to 1 million units in Europe as we start to launch products like the Chevrolet Cruze and the Spark,” Dewar said.
“We haven’t set a target when we’ll get to it, but in our planning horizon we look over the 2014 time frame.”
Um, and how does all this affect Opel, now that GM has decided to keep it? According to Dewar, not at all, because the two brands have different design cues and focus. You mean like Chevrolet and Pontiac did in the US? Not a problem: “We see growth for both brands,” he said. Lutz of luck with that.
More by Paul Niedermeyer
Comments
Join the conversation
C'mon, its April fools day, right? Gotta be the joke of the day. Delusional GM will be lucky to sell more than a dozen cars a year in Europe now. Depends on incentives and giveaways though. With luck, and lots of $ on the hood, they might even sell 1,000!
Opel is like Buick. It isn't the same as Chevy vs Pontiac which did compete for the same customers. Also, Eastern Europe is good for Chevy. Western Europe is much more Opel territory. From some other reading, it looks like Opel sells have increased as GM has tried to increase Chevy sells.
Sorry, but the Cruze, Viva (Agile) and Spark suck. Under designed and under engineered. I've been to a Chevy dealership today to check out and drive the new Agile. Dissapointed I knew I'd be, but that's not the right word. Underwhelming translates my sentiment better. In a time when VW has just realeased their new Gol and Fox (now a real runner) not to mention Polo, Fiat has their perennial best-sellers Palio and Unos to see thier new generations (not just a refresh, but an honest to goodness new generation, meaning new platforms, etc.) and Punto, Renault has the big for small price Sanderos and Logans, heck even Ford has the new Fiesta in the works...and GM comes out w/ this. What are they thinking? Sorry, don't want to bash GM for bashing or flaming's sake, please forgive me as I mean this post aa no flame, but, c'mon GM you can do better. Just imagine, everyone in Brazil is discarding the new Agile, imagine in Europe! This is no disrepect to Koreans either w/ Hyundai and Kia improving by the day. But Daewoo lost the plot. Please GM, represent yourself in Europe w/ what you got best. And that's Opel. Or maybe they want to use Chevy as a fighter against the foreseen Chinese onslaught? But to do that you have to have low, low, low prices. These cars just can't compete w/ VW, Fiat, Renault, Peugeot, Ford Europe not to mention Skoda, Seat, heck, Lada maybe?
GM is fishing for an Obamabucks subsidy for Opal. To provide political cover, the company is spewing up-up-and-away talk to make it appear the taxpayer money would be an investment in a bright future, and not just more cash down the rathole. (Think Volthype.)