Will Opel Become Collateral Damage Of The One Chevy Strategy? What Would You Do In Akerson's Place?
“Should Opel, Chevy coexist in Europe?” This is what Automotive News [sub] asks today without offering a real answer. Let’s have a look. Then, cast your vote.
As we could see in our review of six month European numbers, Chevrolet is GM’s only bright spot in Europe. Chevy’s EU sales rose 14 percent in the first six months while Opel’s EU sales dropped 15 percent in the first half of 2012. Of course, 15 percent more than the 90,000 units Chevy had sold in the same period of 2011 does not quite make up for losing 15 percent of 538,000, but let’s not get hung up on details.
Indeed, it looks like there is a plan in Detroit that calls for the elimination of GM’s regional brands. Such as there are Opel, its UK alter-ego Vauxhall, and, while we are at it, Holden in Australia.
The test market for this was the De-Daewooification of South Korea. Where, not quite coincidentally, most of the Chevrolets come from that are so successful in Europe.
I can very well imagine that there are people at the RenCen who said more than once: “How come we need to close down perfectly good brands, and those clowns in Germany can keep on losing money year after year after year without being put up against the wall?”
Regional brands are a threat to central power. As long as regional brands do well, they are tolerated. If they don’t do well, especially if they are a big drag on the stock price at home, their life is in danger.
The longer the red ink is flowing at Opel – and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight for the bloodletting, not for five years at least, a terrifying thought for a company with a quarter-to-quarter time horizon – the bigger the likelihood that someone says: Let’s stick a sock into Opel. Do not resuscitate. Do not assist eating and drinking.
Possibly, someone already said that. Brand strategies don’t become evident overnight. At Volkswagen, changes of that magnitude took ten years or more for outsiders to notice. Volkswagen’s upmarket move, which Stracke unsuccessfully wanted to counter, was decided by Piech after he took the helm of Volkswagen in the early 90s. Heck, even the inside did not really get Piech until he insisted on the Phaeton.
Automotive News not very helpfully suggests that the time of GM executives should be “spent deciding if they need two very similar brands in Europe and, if not, which is the keeper.“
How would you decide?
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Last year, when I was returning the rental car at CDG airport, there was an american lady in front of me arguing about extra pay for not fueled up chevy, based on American custom - perhaps that was the only car offered for automatic. Clerk seems to be hating both the client and the car. "Les Americans..." When my turn finally came, I got the best smile possible for returning fueled up Opel Insingia.
Denvermike. They use Mercedes Sprinters and Isuzu based based Hazmat trucks here. Most "Tow Trucks" are the sliding bed variety on Cabover Japanese MDT's "although North American cars aren’t well received around the world, some of this is due to political or retaliatory tariff reasons." No not at all. You build the product people want, then they will buy it. " Well at least the successful ones and you’re not being totally honest with yourself if you think these would not also sell in big numbers if they were offered for sale along side your domestic offerings" No they would not sell. You have to offer a product that will sell here, simple as that.