GM's European Opel Brand Could Be an Answer to Stiff Japanese Competition
Soon after the Frankfurt auto show in September General Motors Europe boss Mike Burns and Opel design chief Martin Smith will ask GM of North America to reintroduce the Opel brand to North American consumers, said Opel sources in Germany to weekly magazine Autoweek.
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| The Opel Signum is an attractive little car, and is reportedly built to Europe's higher standards. But is it something you'd like to park in your driveway? (Photo: General Motors) |
If you were around in the 1970's, you might remember the German automaker's models being sold in Buick dealerships. In turn the Cadillac Catera, hardly more than a rebadged Opel Omega, was built in Europe and shipped over the Atlantic for North American consumption, but succumbed to poor sales - recently it was replaced by the U.S.-made CTS model.
What models should we expect to hit our market? Autoweek said that Opel would introduce the compact Signum and midsize Vectra wagon with more models to come later on.
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| Opel's new Vectra might just be the answer to Japanese competition GM has long been looking for. (Photo: General Motors) |
The world's largest automaker's car revival efforts have recently included a cooperative arrangement with Australia's Holden for its Monaro-based U.S. only Pontiac GTO. Autoweek commented that other models from GM's down under division will follow.
The plan to bring Opel back to North America is part of GM chairman Bob Lutz's grand scheme to add more cars to the brand's already densely populated vehicle portfolio.