Opel Boss predictions

[Wraith]

On how well he thinks the brand will do here in Australia - Very ambitious :)

http://www.carsales.com.au/news/2011/small-4x4/opel-australia-aims-high-15k-by-2015-26737

[Vectracious]

Agree, that's a huge result after 3 years, and just because VW did it doesn't mean they can. The brand awareness point about the Aussie market is a good one.



Sent from the MAGI.

[hazrd]

30 new models in 3 years? :yikes: wow!

[Vectracious]

30 new models in 3 years? :yikes: wow!

Each engine variant and trim spec will be a different model.

Sent from the MAGI.

[adam_92]

All I can say is good luck to them. If they are confident in those numbers then the cars have to be very attractive to customer in some way and the best way to attract people is price IMO

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[Vectracious]

All I can say is good luck to them. If they are confident in those numbers then the cars have to be very attractive to customer in some way and the best way to attract people is price IMO

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

But not the only way. Look at skoda. Well priced product but doing poorly because nobody knows about them. Opel are going to have to come up with some decent ads or a gimmick that will put them in the heads of the Aussie public.

Sent from the MAGI.

[adam_92]

But skoda was always known for being crap quality. Or at least it was in Europe until a few year ago

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[Vectracious]

But skoda was always known for being crap quality. Or at least it was in Europe until a few year ago

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

Exactly, what they should have done is spent a bit of money getting rid of that reputation, rather pour it all in to making the cars as cheap as possible.

Sent from the MAGI.

[JohnBu]

Simple reason why Skoda isn't more popular is that they look rubbish.

Shit looking cars don't sell well as they should.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Vectracious]

Simple reason why Skoda isn't more popular is that they look rubbish.

Shit looking cars don't sell well as they should.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And boring looking cars sell like they are going out of fashion.

Cases in point: Corolla, Golf, prev gen Mazda 3 - all top sellers.

Personally I like the Octavia. The Superb looks a bit weird though.

[JohnBu]

I said shit looking, not boring! Lol

The cars you mentioned at least looked like they were designed in the 00's..

Skoda's look a generation older.

I like the Octavia too (updated one only) but still looks old.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ChrisMaz]

If People are willing to buy Chery and great wall. Its case in point people don't give a crap about the looks of the car, its about a competitive price point that will attract buyers.

Which WILL be rather difficult in my eyes as they are battling an extremely well established brand (VW)
As vectracious said, they'll have to advertise advertise advertise, do some decent P.R stunts around town and get people test driving cars.

Opel Did confirm that they'll be attending the Sydney 2012 motorshow, so a quality start from brand awareness.

[poita]

They could give the local forum owner one to test drive, for say 12 months or so :lol:

Sent from The Gates of Hell

[JohnBu]

The thing about VW is, questionable reliability aside, is they make quality cars. Interiors are excellent, so is fit and finish. They drive well too.

The numerous car of the year awards don't hurt either.

Having said that I hope Opel does well... but like any car they will need time to establish themselves.. so they will need to position themselves price wise lower than VW.

One thing I think will help them immensely is a longer warranty of say 5 years and fixed priced servicing for say 3 years like Mitsubishi.

I know that's why a lot of people are hesitant of euro cars- reliability woes outside warranty and service cost.

The fixed price service doesn't have to be mega cheap like Toyota ($120!) but even at $200 per 15,000km service would turn a profit for the dealer for what is an oil change, filter change.

5 year warranties certainly haven't hurt Hyundai.. Kia (owned by Hyundai) offer 7 ****ing years warranty in Europe!!!

[Wraith]

Simple reason why Skoda isn't more popular is that they look rubbish.

Shit looking cars don't sell well as they should.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Totally agree on your point there John, especially for people who want more in a car than just an A to B tool...

Looks and aesthetic appeal and or desirabilty sells product, ie. any product :)

[Wraith]

If People are willing to buy Chery and great wall. Its case in point people don't give a crap about the looks of the car, its about a competitive price point that will attract buyers.

Which WILL be rather difficult in my eyes as they are battling an extremely well established brand (VW)
As vectracious said, they'll have to advertise advertise advertise, do some decent P.R stunts around town and get people test driving cars.

Opel Did confirm that they'll be attending the Sydney 2012 motorshow, so a quality start from brand awareness.

Also agree.

That's why for eg. Hyundai and sister company Kia are doing so well...

Good looking product range, very decent warranty terms and price points...

[sooty]

The thing about VW is, questionable reliability aside, is they make quality cars. Interiors are excellent, so is fit and finish. They drive well too.



Having come from an MY06 Jetta to a MY10 Octavia though i can tell you the interior and fit and finish is identical, if not better. i know the skoda front can be a little....different lol, but the back of the wagon looks awesome, light years ahead of the golf wagon.
It's all just about the fact that everyone knows someone who has had a golf, and they liked it, so they go look at it. No1 knows anyone who has a skoda, despite the fact they're just vw's in drag, so no1 would ever go to a dealership to test them out :lol:

[gmonkey]

am i the only one that thinks VW styling department is acctually rather dull and in comparision with skoda are on par with each other? I think stying wise coming out of Euro mainstream at moment renault is winning in "modern" styling. The VW is just the same styling over and over and over, there not been a groundbreaking shape since Golf MK1. Yes the Golf R looks nice, but put it against the OPC Astra or Renault Megane Trophee it just looks bland to me.

If styling is the selling point Opel > VW. Opel will need to offer a semi luxury interior though to take a chunk outta VW i think. And i do think opel will survive... the Astra G was the biggest selling car over here, i dont see why people who loved the old wont love the new

[JMZ]

And i do think opel will survive... the Astra G was the biggest selling car over here, i dont see why people who loved the old wont love the new

But unfortunatley we on this site are the few that realise that we actually drive Opels. Go ask the average "Holden" Astra driver if they know that their car is actually European and I reckon you'd get a slightly surprised response.

Average Joe who drives an Astra G today won't be thinking "you' beauty, Opel is coming to Austalia, I can upgrade to a new Astra then!"

[gmonkey]

with the right advert people will know... showing the progression over the years of the astra, people will see the G or F and peice the puzzle together (you'd hope)

and a lot of people do upgrade from the car they already drive (if they enjoyed it) and lots of people have enjoyed the astra G and H... Look at VW drivers a lot of them have gone through the different Mark levels or even commodore/camry/falcon drivers, always buy what they know :p

[ChrisMaz]

Its the other models they'll have brand knowladge issues with.
I can see it now. People comparing the base insignia to the cruze, but with a few thousand dollars premium on top of it...

[gmonkey]

ithink the insignia will be more compared to the camry.. and price difference wont be that much! :p

base model insignia at a guess will be low $30k id guess.. thats with povo 1.8vvt and cloth everything

[rjastra]

I think you will find Skoda sales are on the increase in this market. Doing pretty well considering they have neither a Golf/Astra sized car or a MaZda2/Fiesta sized car here in our market YET. Their owner satisfaction and quality surveys in europe are good. They aren't pushing the "cheap" line here... more the good value for money. Anyone who has actually sat in a new octavia or superb will know their interiors stack up very well.

Styling of all their cars is a bit... hohum :)

I will be interested to see what specific models Opel brings out. I assume the Astra will be 1.4T (104kw) or diesel only. They really need to find a decent petrol engine for the Corsa... the new barina will have a 1.6L 85Kw engine!

An interesting idea for an Astra SRI would be to drop the 2.4/2.5L Ecotec (130kw, 230Nm) into it (like the Buick Verano). Warm hatch that even p platers can drive

[Wraith]

Opel Boss gives further clarification of their Australian goals...

http://www.carsales.com.au/news/2011/medium-passenger/opel/opel-revokes-its-15k-by-2015-target-26781

[Bloodnok]

Opel will launch in Australia in October next year at the Sydney motor show with three models: the Corsa city-car, Astra small hatch and wagon, and the Insignia midsize sedan and wagon.

It's interesting to note that an Insignia is considered "mid-size", despite the wagon being bigger than a Commodore wagon (yes, it is - it is 1cm longer). Yet the Australian press (and probably the average Australian) will still dismiss it as "too small" compared to their beloved "full-size" Australian standard falcodore without even looking...

[ChrisMaz]

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE.

http://www.caradvice.com.au/138464/opel-opc-astra-gtc-sports-models-under-consideration-for-australia/

Get that in ya'

[poita]

Woooooooo

Oh and did not know the insignia motor was Aussie built

Sent from The Gates of Hell

[ChrisMaz]

Yeap... Same 2.8T as was used in the vectra as well. All built in melbourne, but never put in an Australian car. Fking stupid.

[rjastra]

Yeap... Same 2.8T as was used in the vectra as well. All built in melbourne, but never put in an Australian car. Fking stupid.

It's not f* stupid actually.... Cadillac have dropped this engine from the SRX range after the first year. It's a dud in a heavy car mated to an auto gearbox (think Commodore).

[gmonkey]

It's not f* stupid actually.... Cadillac have dropped this engine from the SRX range after the first year. It's a dud in a heavy car mated to an auto gearbox (think Commodore).

that was the LP1, non turbo 2.8 in the CTS. The LP9 however is still in the Cadi BLS right upto the point where the car was no longer made by SAAB but a russian company instead

[ChrisMaz]

Its stupid from a Vectra C standpoint, they could have dropped it into the C instead of the 3.2 V6, which was ultimately a massive failure for GM europe. Used for a total of 3 years, and I dare say, the 2.8T is a much stronger and reliable engine than the z32se.

[rjastra]

http://carsales.mobi/news/2011/medium-passenger/opel/opel-revokes-its-15k-by-2015-target-26781

Boss goes back on sales figures

Cars not released until Sydney motorshow 2012.

Initial Model lineup - 2nd half of 2012, most likely last quarter of 2012.

Corsa 1.4 (75kw) , 5 speed manual or 4 speed auto'
Astra 5 door, 1.4T (104kw), 1.6T (132kw), 2L TDI (120kw)
Insignia sedan and wagon, 2L turbo petrol (162kw) or 2L TDI (118kw)

[Wraith]

^^^^ It's on page 2 rj :D

[rjastra]

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/first-drive-of-new-opel-range-20110920-1kiju.html

[Wraith]

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/first-drive-of-new-opel-range-20110920-1kiju.html

Interesting comparos there to the VW's...

As long as they're priced well. VW will have some serious competition for sure :D

[metry]

15000 seems pretty huge but considering the astra sold 35 000 units in one year it is achievable. i hope they do it. would love a new astra

[chris_r]

15000 seems pretty huge but considering the astra sold 35 000 units in one year it is achievable. i hope they do it. would love a new astra

The problem is if Opel rely on this, is convincing the existing or past Astra owners that the J is the successor the Holden Astra AH without crapping all over Holden at the same time. If anything, for most of these people, it's only going to be more confusing than anything. As for the Corsa, well only a few of us realise that was once sold here as a Barina. And the Insignia, well although the successor to the Vectra, it's a brand new and unknown name for the local market.

All I can hope is that the media put a positive spin on the Opel models when they arrive here, rather than bag them. Maybe then, they'll have little trouble in hitting that 15k target.

Oh, for that guy who said the new Barina/Kalos/Sonic is getting a new engine, you do realise it's still Daewoo's take on the old X16XE, only with about 7kw more than the old engine? It's not really that new now, is it?

Also, in regards to mentioning warranties earlier on in this post, going to seven year warranties is only more excuse for the dealers to void your warranty where possible. Currently, I believe it's one in every five new vehicles sold goes back to the dealer for warranty repairs with the current five year warranties now on the market. Don't believe me that the dealers are out to void your warranty where they can? How's this, I miss a service by about 5000km on my Hyundai iLoad van and I do the bottom end in. It's not covered by warranty because I didn't service it properly, yet the dealer told me I could get my service done at 15000km intervals and not the 7500 that they recommend. Five grand later and all I can say is, that new car warranties mean stuff all these days.

[gman]

If they manage to get the OPC/GTC models over here they could certainly make the numbers in two years or so.

They need to build the brand. We know how good they can be, now everyone else needs to find out.

[rjastra]

If they manage to get the OPC/GTC models over here they could certainly make the numbers in two years or so.

They need to build the brand. We know how good they can be, now everyone else needs to find out.


They really need an SUV model.

[guy 27]

They really need an SUV model.

Antara? (old model is the captiva we got here as a Holden)

[glider]

The problem is if Opel rely on this, is convincing the existing or past Astra owners that the J is the successor the Holden Astra AH without crapping all over Holden at the same time. If anything, for most of these people, it's only going to be more confusing than anything. As for the Corsa, well only a few of us realise that was once sold here as a Barina. And the Insignia, well although the successor to the Vectra, it's a brand new and unknown name for the local market.

All I can hope is that the media put a positive spin on the Opel models when they arrive here, rather than bag them. Maybe then, they'll have little trouble in hitting that 15k target.

Oh, for that guy who said the new Barina/Kalos/Sonic is getting a new engine, you do realise it's still Daewoo's take on the old X16XE, only with about 7kw more than the old engine? It's not really that new now, is it?

Also, in regards to mentioning warranties earlier on in this post, going to seven year warranties is only more excuse for the dealers to void your warranty where possible. Currently, I believe it's one in every five new vehicles sold goes back to the dealer for warranty repairs with the current five year warranties now on the market. Don't believe me that the dealers are out to void your warranty where they can? How's this, I miss a service by about 5000km on my Hyundai iLoad van and I do the bottom end in. It's not covered by warranty because I didn't service it properly, yet the dealer told me I could get my service done at 15000km intervals and not the 7500 that they recommend. Five grand later and all I can say is, that new car warranties mean stuff all these days.

mitsubishi have 5/10 warranty, have heard of hayman reese towbar voiding warranty, as its an 'unauthorised chassis extentsion'

[JohnBu]

Sorry to hear Chris, but if you serviced it as per logbook schedule, they would have covered it.

Even though it prob wasn't a factor, they gotta draw the line somewhere.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk