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General's Gems


General's Gems

Author: Jaedene HudsonDate: 11 January 2011
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General Motors has confirmed European-based brand Opel will come to Australia as a stand-alone brand from 2012.

The new addition could see the total number of brands reach 50 in Australia if other expected arrivals such as Geely are launched on time.

Opel CEO Nick Reilly and Holden chairman and managing director Mike Devereux made the announcement to the Australian media at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit today.

"This is not just an Australian play, it’s an outside of Europe play. We feel that Opel has the capability of selling, eventually, significant number of vehicles outside of Europe.

"It's important for Opel, it's an important brand statement for Opel. We have sold product export before but never really made any money from it. It is certainly a strong statement about the strength of Opel as a brand but also about our products."

Reilly confirmed the initial export strategy involves five countries – Australia, China, Israel, Argentina and Chile.

In Australia, Opel will be positioned as a premium product competing with the likes of Volkswagen, Renault, Citroën and Peugeot.

While initial sales will be small in Australia by global standards, Reilly says Australia plays a key role in the brand's international strategy.

The European brand will launch with new generation versions of three key models – the Opel Astra (which used to be sold in Australia with a Holden badge), the Corsa and the Insignia.

It s also expected the cars like the Zafira (also sold in Australia previously) and next generation SUVs are also on the radar and Reilly confirmed Opel will sell cars that aren’t in Holden’s portfolio.

"We have and will have models that don't exist in the Holden range, which will be different body styles and differently presented to the market."

Both Reilly and Devereux said they did not expect Opel to steal sales from Holden.

"We expect Opel to have a very different positioning in the market to Holden. Part of it will be price but not only price. The spec of the car will be specced to compete with VW, for example, which is our main competition in Europe.

"We think we can cover, GM can cover, the Australian market. It has room for this European brand, German technology, competing not against the mainstream brands that Holden competes against but compete in other segments.

"We are determined to make money doing it which again, in the past, we haven't, particularly in Australia. We have introduced Opel-based products under the Holden brand, but I'm sad to say we've never made money from it because we were positioning a product that was designed and specced for a particular segment of the market in the wrong customer sense."

In fact Devereux is very supportive of the move.

"Opel presents a new opportunity for GM in Australia with a growing demand for German design and technology at affordable prices.

"We look forward to supporting our sister brand establish itself as a strong competitor in the growing premium European segment."

Reilly wouldn't confirm how many cars Opel expects to sell in Australia, but says over the next three years it hopes exports will reach around 100,000 globally.

Jaedene Hudson, NRMA Motoring & Services, January 11, 2011.

 

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