Opel has been in
the doldrums for some years now, profitably
and also as far as product is concerned. Competitors have eaten into its traditional audience base with products
that are exciting and relevant, and Opel has had a hard time keeping up. No
more, says CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke.
According to a report from Automotive News Europe and Reuters, the boss has laid down the
gauntlet on his company’s future. The vision is as follows: profits of €1 billion
(R10.9 billion) and a European
market share of some 8.5% by 2016. That
basically means within the next four
years Opel would have developed enough new
product to propel these goals. In fact, Stracke is quoted as saying he sees
the brand introducing about 30 new
vehicles to market by 2014.
There’s certainly plenty of room to manoeuvre as far as refreshments are concerned. For one, how about
a new Meriva next year? While in
that type of car, a new Zafira would
also be welcome. Opel does not for instance, play against cars like the
Volkswagen Tiguan, Touareg, Scirocco,
and Polo Vivo among others. There is nothing to challenge the Mazda MX-5, nor the Toyota Corolla. The
brand has a sedan called Insignia (pictured here) in
Europe, but nowhere else.
It’s a very simple message that comes out here: no product, no sales. No sales, no
profits. It doesn’t matter if you lay off half
the staff or close down factories.
1 comment:
Good luck Opel we are behind you all the way as old fans
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