Comments on: GM won’t decide on Opel/Vauxhall until May

By: carstuff

carstuff — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:59:31 +0000

Other Man, The current Malibu is on the older EPS I platform. The Opel Insignia and 2010 Buick LaCrosse are on the newer EPS II platform.

Your thought is a good idea as the next Malibu could be based on the Insignia and with what is going on probably will be. Quite a good idea.

By: fan

fan — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:10:02 +0000

reason for chevys sales numbers going up vs. the previous years is that chevys werent sold not too long ago in europe. so if you sell 0 units in year one, and sell 1 unit in year two, this is an increase in sales by 100% – and then, if you sell 10 cars in year three, thats an increase of 1000%. tall numbers eh?
but still, not selling too well… now, im sure chevy sells more than that in europe, but still, this is how the increase in sales can be explained…

only reason chevys sell in europe at all is, that theyre rebadged (yeeahaw!) daewoos… US spec chevys would not sell at all… they tried to do so, over and over, but finally stopped trying for good…

By: Other Man

Other Man — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:52:58 +0000

Part of the issue with GM was in completely unnecessary spending. Why design a Malibu and Insignia when you could just have both be the same thing with brand grilles and badging? The Malibu is gorgeous for sure, but an Insignia wearing the Malibu’s grille would be no less stunning, and even so, much more cost efficient. They do that for the CDM Buick Regal, rather than designing a whole new car.

Hope they at least keep Opel.

By: Borat

Borat — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:27:48 +0000

Jake, I will refresh your memory: in November of 2008 GM bought a factory in St. Petersburg for half a billion and then month later received 5 billions subsidy from Uncle Sam. Lenin would be proud……

By: JakeK66

JakeK66 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:54:16 +0000

Ok, Chevy sells well in Eastern Europe is different than selling well in Western Europe.

Anyone hear GM was thinking about selling Daewoo division? Didn’t think so.

By: No more oil for GM

No more oil for GM — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:39:32 +0000

chevy sells good in europe, especially eastern europe.. the reason? everybody knows the cars are korean cars rebranded as chevy.. earlier, when they tried to sell u.s. chevys, they sold nothing..

By: johnnycanuck

johnnycanuck — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:37:34 +0000

I can see why they want to wait. They’ve already been forced to make more decisions in the last three weeks than in the last 30 years. Well other than decisions on how to cut corners that is.

By: Borat

Borat — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:37:14 +0000

carstuff, the only Chevy I saw in Europe were crappy Daewoo misfits. The same applies to Russia. CHevy dealers don’t sell Impalas, Malibus, Blazers or Suburbans anywhere on the continent. What is sold is cheap crap and not in what was Western Europe, but rather in countries we never heard of like Bulgaria, Romania and Albania – the poorest of the poor. The biggest beneficiary of those sales are former commissars, they still collect taxes for the state and themselves. I hope that I shed some information.

By: global_lightning

global_lightning — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:36:49 +0000

Sell Opel, Vauxhall, Saab, and Saturn as a package (and throw in Hummer as a freebie). With a new management structure, these could easily form the own corporation.

By: carstuff

carstuff — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:23:25 +0000

More misinformed people here. Chevrolet is fastest growing marque in Europe. Also growing fast in Russia. Chevrolet volume is going up while most everyone else is going down.

“Despite the downturn in the European market in the second half of 2008, Chevrolet sold over 507,000 cars, reaching a historic milestone and setting a new market share record of 2.3 percent.

Sales in 2008 were up 11 percent from the previous year’s record sales, and market share increased by 0.3 percentage points over 2008.

The Russian market was again very strong and with sales of 235,400 vehicles, registered an increase of 19 percent over 2007. Chevrolet has been the number one non-domestic brand in Russia since May 2007, with a market share of 7.7 percent in 2008. The brand also recorded considerable growth in Ukraine (52,300 units; +3.9 percent).

Despite a significant downturn of 13 percent of the total vehicle market in Italy and the U.K., Chevrolet sales in Italy grew slightly to 45,500 vehicle (+1 percent) and sales in the U.K. remained stable at 18,300 vehicles in 2008. Chevrolet sales in France were also up by 2.5 percent to slightly over 9,000 units in 2008, in a market that was down by 0.4 percent compared to a year ago. “

By: Borat

Borat — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:16:59 +0000

What does it mean “GM won’t decide”? What department in US government in in charge of making that decision? Treasury, DoD, Education, Health?

By: JakeK66

JakeK66 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:04:26 +0000

Huh? Does he mean Chevrolet will be sold in Europe or pick up it’s slack in the US?

If he thinks Chevy will sell well in Europe…. HAHAHA!!!! He’s a funny guy.