Over dinner on the eve of the Geneva motor show, Vauxhall’s managing director Duncan Aldred talked profits, branding, sales and future products.
The evening began with Aldred’s thoughts on the Vauxhall and Opel Ampera winning the European Car of the Year award: “If the Ampera hadn’t have won, it would have been the wrong result. This is a breakthrough car and the importance of the technology needs to be recognised”.
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Production of the Ampera he notes, began late last year, and the cars for the UK will be in dealers’ showrooms within weeks. How many of the national network of 300 outlets will sell the car? Just 24, he says. The Ampera will be a premium priced product and only the best performing outlets will be allowed to retail it.
The gentle push upmarket won’t start with the Ampera, however; it’s already under way.
“We’re changing the face of Vauxhall as a fleet brand to a consumer-driven brand. If you look at the Astra GTC (three-door), it’s a premium priced car and now outsells the Volkswagen Scirocco two to one in retail. The GTC is also now 30% of all Astra sales in the UK”.
An Astra-based large convertible will join the Vauxhall line-up “by the end of 2012”, Aldred said. He wouldn’t be drawn on pricing or expected sales volumes but gave the impression that the car is more about pushing the image of Vauxhall than anything else. Think of it as a rival for the VW Eos and Golf GTI Cabriolet but with more dramatic styling, he suggested.
Another additional model due for launch later this year is still being referred to as the Junior. When will we see it? “At the Paris motor show,” (September) and it will be pitched “as a rival for the Fiat 500 and the Mini”.
Inevitably, the conversation came around to GM’s recent statements about Opel (and, by inference, Vauxhall), as parts of the empire that are greatly under-performing. What is the correct strategy for rescuing the business? He would not be drawn on the possibility of shuttering plants but is forthcoming on other means of ridding Vauxhall of red ink.
“We’ve stepped away from the zero profit fleet business but we still expect our market share to stay where it is. We’ve also got other new models coming, seven in 2012 alone, and many such as Mokka [little changed European version of the compact Buick Encore SUV launched in Detroit] won’t be premium vehicles.”
With the brand’s current range doing well, and entry to new niches to come within the next six months, some journalists have suggested Vauxhall will overtake Ford and become number one this year. How does Aldred react to that? After all, Vauxhall toppled Ford in LCVs during 2011 so might top dog in passenger car sales be next?
“I don’t see that happening – we are not chasing market share, we must make this a profitable company first and foremost.”
