GMs Opel subsidiary to be sold to the French
- Thread starter chrisri
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If this buying spree continues they might even brave the US market. Insanity knows no bounds. Failing that there's always Canada and Australia.
The French have never been influenced by common sense when it comes to automobiles and that means that if you want something a bit different they have your car.
The French have never been influenced by common sense when it comes to automobiles and that means that if you want something a bit different they have your car.
Opel are building very boring dull cars, they are far from the great company they used to be ( coming from a hardcore Ford guy ), we had a 1983 Opel Manta GTE B2 2.0i , it was a fantastic looking sporty coupe.
Ford of Europe must be throwing a party!!
Manta kesä 1994 by Capri Driver, en Flickr
Ford of Europe must be throwing a party!!
Manta kesä 1994 by Capri Driver, en Flickr
Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
we had a 1983 Opel Manta GTE B2 2.0i , it was a fantastic looking sporty coupe.
I thought Calibra looked great as well. Understated, but tasteful.
we had a 1983 Opel Manta GTE B2 2.0i , it was a fantastic looking sporty coupe.
I thought Calibra looked great as well. Understated, but tasteful.
The Calibra was ok but imo nowhere near as good as the Manta... also the Calibra rusted like [censored], I can't remember the last one i saw, even here in a mediterranian island where cars don't rust at all unless you live right next to the sea.
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The Opel GT was one of my favorite cars.
I really liked the 70's and early 80's Manta's. About my favorite all time small coupe. Well, except for the Audi Quatro Coupe
I remember first seeing the brand Opel at the WWII museum when I was a kid.. they made trucks (the Opel Blitz) for the Germans during WWII.
As a kid, it just seemed odd to me that GM would make trucks for the Germans. The sign for the truck even said something like "Opel by GM." Dad explained to me that they were bought out later on.. Lol.
As a kid, it just seemed odd to me that GM would make trucks for the Germans. The sign for the truck even said something like "Opel by GM." Dad explained to me that they were bought out later on.. Lol.
GM started making decent smaller vehicles like the the Cruze because they smartly used the Opel and Daewoo engineers to design it. Hopefully they retain some of key folks as prior attempts like Cobalt and Cavalier were just not great designs.
No great loss.
Where GM gets heavily involved, it has to fail!
Actually Opel today have a decent lineup. New Astra, Insignia, Mokka, etc are all competitive products IMO.
They did have some bad years in the late 90s but overall not a bad company. Opel always had problems with diesels in the past but, after deal with FIAT they gained some HQ technology.
My Vectra with FIAT's 1.9 16v is a decent car. Not a sporty car, but great motorway cruiser.
They did have some bad years in the late 90s but overall not a bad company. Opel always had problems with diesels in the past but, after deal with FIAT they gained some HQ technology.
My Vectra with FIAT's 1.9 16v is a decent car. Not a sporty car, but great motorway cruiser.
Originally Posted By: chrisri
Actually Opel today have a decent lineup. New Astra, Insignia, Mokka, etc are all competitive products IMO.
They did have some bad years in the late 90s but overall not a bad company. Opel always had problems with diesels in the past but, after deal with FIAT they gained some HQ technology.
My Vectra with FIAT's 1.9 16v is a decent car. Not a sporty car, but great motorway cruiser.
I had several OPEL's, and long past are days of Ascona B, Manta etc.
Gas engines were still good until they started to do Ecotec [censored] and lowering power after Cosworth did them favor.
OPEL now offers just rebadged GM products, and no wonder they are going under.
Actually Opel today have a decent lineup. New Astra, Insignia, Mokka, etc are all competitive products IMO.
They did have some bad years in the late 90s but overall not a bad company. Opel always had problems with diesels in the past but, after deal with FIAT they gained some HQ technology.
My Vectra with FIAT's 1.9 16v is a decent car. Not a sporty car, but great motorway cruiser.
I had several OPEL's, and long past are days of Ascona B, Manta etc.
Gas engines were still good until they started to do Ecotec [censored] and lowering power after Cosworth did them favor.
OPEL now offers just rebadged GM products, and no wonder they are going under.
So we might see some weird holdens soon. The French make an effort to be different, even if it means being stupid. The Peugeot 404 door lock buttons were pulled up to lock, push down to unlock...the only advantage of being different from everyone else was it was much easier to unlock without keys...pushing the button down with a piece of wire is easy peasy. Was in a 306 yesterday, bonnet pull under the dash...but it doesn't pull, it goes out sideways. Why so much effort not to be the same ?
The lastest Holden ad in NZ - at least they are now admiting it's not actually a Holden.
The lastest Holden ad in NZ - at least they are now admiting it's not actually a Holden.
So GM abandons Europe?
Maybe not that great of an idea.
Hey guys, I have an idea!
Let's dump Opel and consolidate in the US and China!
Yeah, China is sure enough a good market for GM, but Europe could be as well.
This would be a little bit like GM dumping some of its American brands that have considerable brand equity.
Oh, wait, I guess they already did that.
New GM may be even more clueless than Old GM.
Maybe not that great of an idea.
Hey guys, I have an idea!
Let's dump Opel and consolidate in the US and China!
Yeah, China is sure enough a good market for GM, but Europe could be as well.
This would be a little bit like GM dumping some of its American brands that have considerable brand equity.
Oh, wait, I guess they already did that.
New GM may be even more clueless than Old GM.
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
So GM abandons Europe?
Maybe not that great of an idea.
Hey guys, I have an idea!
Let's dump Opel and consolidate in the US and China!
Yeah, China is sure enough a good market for GM, but Europe could be as well.
This would be a little bit like GM dumping some of its American brands that have considerable brand equity.
Oh, wait, I guess they already did that.
New GM may be even more clueless than Old GM.
They dumped subsidiary that is responsible for everything that has to do with downsizing. So GM is trying to survive in the era of downsizing, by dumping company that has knowledge how to do it.
Typical problem of American companies, where CEO's are fighting how to post best quarterly numbers so they get huge bonuses. Cut a little, cut a little more, cut little, little more, until there is nothing to cut. But, yeah there are always American taxpayers to foot the bill.
So GM abandons Europe?
Maybe not that great of an idea.
Hey guys, I have an idea!
Let's dump Opel and consolidate in the US and China!
Yeah, China is sure enough a good market for GM, but Europe could be as well.
This would be a little bit like GM dumping some of its American brands that have considerable brand equity.
Oh, wait, I guess they already did that.
New GM may be even more clueless than Old GM.
They dumped subsidiary that is responsible for everything that has to do with downsizing. So GM is trying to survive in the era of downsizing, by dumping company that has knowledge how to do it.
Typical problem of American companies, where CEO's are fighting how to post best quarterly numbers so they get huge bonuses. Cut a little, cut a little more, cut little, little more, until there is nothing to cut. But, yeah there are always American taxpayers to foot the bill.
OPEL once had a reputation for building affordable, rock solid cars, the "Working class Mercedes". But in the 90s the Quality was rapidly going down, because the GM managment tried to save cost. To much.
OPEL get quikly a bad reputation for unreliable rustbuckets, this reputauion ist still strong.
The new opel line up are sellung better, it seems they slowly recover.
OPEL has made a huge advertise campaign against its bad reputation for weeks last year here in Germany.
"Umparken im Kopf" - "Repark (opel) in your Mind"
Lets see what will happen now. Bad news for the German Workers, i guess.
OPEL get quikly a bad reputation for unreliable rustbuckets, this reputauion ist still strong.
The new opel line up are sellung better, it seems they slowly recover.
OPEL has made a huge advertise campaign against its bad reputation for weeks last year here in Germany.
"Umparken im Kopf" - "Repark (opel) in your Mind"
Lets see what will happen now. Bad news for the German Workers, i guess.
Maybe not if PSA keeps production in Germany and incorporate some of the stunning designs they have on the table right now eg Peugeot Exalt, it might be a real turn around.
The Opel stuff over the last 30 years with few exceptions have been some serious $hit boxes. Its been that long since Manny and his hairdresser girlfriend Gabi drove a Manta. LOL
The Opel stuff over the last 30 years with few exceptions have been some serious $hit boxes. Its been that long since Manny and his hairdresser girlfriend Gabi drove a Manta. LOL
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