The CEO of General Motors’ German Opel unit says he is looking to increase the number of products the company offers in markets outside of its core European market in an effort to rapidly expand its business, but perhaps the brand’s biggest roadblock is internal competition from other GM units also doing business abroad.
Opel CEO Nick Reilly says that his brand is intending to launch or re-launch itself in markets in South America and Australia and to increase its presence in South Africa and China partially to offset weak sales in Europe.
“We are considering introducing or re-introducing Opel in a series of markets,” Reilly told Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper.
Currently, Opels are sold in few markets outside of Europe, although Opel-designed and assembled cars are rebadged with other GM brand names, like Chevrolet and Holden
It’s unclear just where Opel would fit in a number of the markets Reilly named, most notably Australia and Brazil, lucrative markets where GM’s Holden and Chevrolet brands offer similarly priced and sized products. In fact, several South American Chevrolet models are merely rebadged Opel products.
Growth in China
General Motors is already a large player in China, where some Opel-designed vehicles are rebadged as Chevrolet and Buick models, but Reilly says that the German brand thinks there is room for more.
Last year, Opel sold just 3,000 Corsa, Meriva and Zafira models in China, the world’s largest car market. Reilly says that Opel could expand its offerings to include more models – most likely its hot-selling Astra and Insignia.
“We wouldn’t suddenly sell 200,000 cars in China,” Reilly said, later adding that “Opel’s image in China is strong but our product range is too small.”
References
1.’Opel mulls expansion…’ view
