Should Opel go? [Archive] - OpelAus Forums

Shortstuff

10th September 2013, 12:23 PM

I don't think it's a good idea. IMO the Korean products GM are passing off as Chevys are heaps of junk.

Surely the market can't be so swayed by price that they will completely overlook the quality of a product.

It says something when a 10 year old XC is worth the same as a 3 year old TK Barina.

chris_r

10th September 2013, 10:50 PM

Being somewhat biased, no Opel shouldn't go. If they want to pass Korean cars off as Chevrolets, then do it. Use Opel and maybe the Buick brands for sub-premium models and then have Cadillac as the premium/ultra-premium brand. Less brands and more common platforms would probably lead to more productivity and more profits. It's something that is working well for Ford at the moment. Only issue I have with Daewoo product being badged Chevrolet is the negative effect it would have on the brand that produces the Corvette and the Camaro.

As for the Holden brand, when they stop production here (which was always going to be inevitable, no matter who won the election), they may as well slap Chev badges on everything as the bogans are already one step ahead on this one.

It says something when a 10 year old XC is worth the same as a 3 year old TK Barina.

That's also saying, Opel is more on the cutting edge than it's Korean counterparts. Given that the TK and I think even the TM Barinas (non-turbo) have a 1.6 litre engine that's based on the Corsa B X16XE engine in an engine design that's 20+ years old. I can't vouch for any build quality in the current Barina and Cruze models, but the preceding TK Barina and JF Viva were just pure rubbish. This was also backed up by the fact when Holden were stilling AH Astras, they were outselling the Viva by a ratio of 2-3 to 1, even though the Astra cost more. I would've loved to have seen if they could've repeated this with the JG Cruze and Astra J, both wearing Holden badges. I don't think the result would've been too much different.