EU Gains Not Enough to Stave Opel Production Reductions

Mark Stevenson
by Mark Stevenson

Recent sales growth in the EU hasn’t been kind to Opel as the group is forced to reduce hours at two German plants.

According to Automotive News, Opel will cut production of the Adam and Corsa at Eisenach and Insignia and Zafira Tourer at Ruesselsheim. The move is due to Opel’s exit from the Russian market and what the automaker calls “moderate” gains in the rest of Europe.

However, within the EU, overall sales for all automakers are up 8.2 percent in the first six month of this year and 14.6 percent in June, according to ACEA.

Opel and Honda are the only two automakers to see sales decline within the EU versus the same six month period last year. Opel experienced a 0.7-percent drop in overall group sales in the EU. Honda took an even harder hit with an 7.9-percent decline.

On the other end of the graph, Mitsubishi has posted 57.0-percent growth in the EU, though that percentage is based on relatively low volume compared to others. Nissan is the runner up at 21.6-percent growth while Jaguar-Land Rover (16.9 percent), Daimler (15.0 percent), FCA (12.9 percent) and BMW (12.0 percent) all saw double-digit percentage growth, beating the overall six-month average.

Mark Stevenson
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  • HerrKaLeun HerrKaLeun on Jul 18, 2015

    they still exist? i had a 1993 opel Corsa and got rid of it before the 3-year warranty expired (whoever bought it probably hates me...). it was in the shop every few weeks. At the time i went to trade school and carpooled with people (all VW owners). they teased me because any repairs i could postpone I did when we carpooled so they could give me a ride to the shop ( no loaners for Opel). I believe Opel spent half the MSRP on warranty repairs. corrosion, and every display, switch sensor etc. was prone to fail. And you know when VW owners tease you about frequent shop visits, the car probably is bad. All similar Opels had the same failures. Literally anything could fail, hazzard blinker switch, ambient temperature sensor, ... things that normally never failed failed in each of the Opels. We had company cars Opel combo (a Oper Corsa based transporter car). Literally the very same things failed on them all the time. company didn't even bother having most things fixed under warranty because they couldn't afford having half the fleet grounded all the time. We put little wood chims in the switches that failed so the hazzard blinkers wouldn't on all the time. My theory is, they used all parts GM of USA already rejected. I realize they probably improved over time, but still.... My previous Trabant that was 19 years old had fewer repairs needed than the factory-new Opel.

  • Sector 5 Sector 5 on Jul 19, 2015

    Never owned an Opel but in 1964 when my mother learned to drive in Brussels her instructor told her never to buy Opel. They were tinny garbage. That's the reputation they had then. She ended up with a used 4 CV which she took back to the UK and had difficulty finding parts for.

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