It's a Family Feud! GM's Love-Hate Relationship With Opel
General Motors (GM) is probably kicking itself for not unloading Opel, its main European division, back in 2009 when the unloading was good. But then again, there have been many times in GM's history when it asked itself, "What the hell are we going to do with Opel?" Europe has never been a super-strong region for the General. But there's that nagging problem of Opel vehicles actually being... rather good.
A depressing quality
Opel has a long history, having been around since, um, the Union and the Confederacy were working out their issues in the 1860s. (Cars came along in 1899.) GM has controlled the company since 1929. World War II almost did in this relationship, but even then, with the greatest managers in the history of the car business running the show, GM wasn't sure if it should keep Opel.
By 2009, the chance to chuck Opel once again arose. According to Reuters, then-board member, now-CEO Dan Akerson wanted to jettison the brand. But others on the GM board were anxious about Opel technology falling into Russian hands.
Also, some of GM's best cars are undergirded by Opel's strong German engineering. Saturn was basically an American Opel before it was killed. The Chevy Cruze has a lot of Opel in it. And the widely admired Buick Regal is a legitimate BMW competitor because it's, you know, based on an Opel. We do seem to like our German cars in the U.S.A.
In fact, before its bankruptcy, GM vehicles that were based on Opels were of significantly higher quality than the vehicles that weren't. This is the New General's dilemma: if it wants to tell a quality story worldwide, it needs to hang on to Opel.
Gritted teeth
But just because GM is stuck with Opel, that doesn't mean it's happy about the arrangement. This is from the abovementioned Reuters report:
At last week's shareholder meeting in Detroit, Akerson was clear where Opel stood.If you think this sounds like an exceptionally wishy-washy strategy, based more on marketing than on the reality of good products, you're right. It's a grumpy lifeline being thrown to Opel, the brand GM loves to hate and hates to love. But it's a lifeline."We're going to try to define a slightly different brand and product strategy by having a global premium brand, Cadillac, and a global value brand, Chevrolet," he said.
"Then we will flank those two global brands with regional brands such as Opel/Vauxhall," he added. "That would be a brief outline of what I think we need to focus on over the next three to five years."
That is a hard pill to swallow for Opel executives who believe their company could be a global brand.
Does Opel have a global chance?
Unfortunately, you have to give it to Akerson on this one. Chevy does equal volume, while Cadillac equals luxury. Trying to manage an additional global brand would probably be too challenging at the moment. Better to grudgingly persist in using Opel vehicle "architectures" to make Chevys better than sell Chevys and Opels in the same place.
This is as dysfunctional as an international auto family can get. But at least it's been this way since the last Great Depression.
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