General Motors’ European operations have hit a setback with the realisation that it will not hit breakeven this year after all. Next year’s market environment is looking tough, too. However, Vauxhall MD Duncan Aldred tells just-auto that a wave of new product will help to transform the brand in Britain over the next few years.
Duncan Aldred has been with General Motors for over twenty years. Now 41, Aldred began his GM career at the automaker’s Ellesmere Port assembly plant before taking up a full time position in sales and marketing, distribution and then as a regional sales manager. He eventually became sales director for Vauxhall in the UK before moving to GM Europe in Budapest covering eastern European markets and then on to Germany. He moved back to the UK as managing director of Vauxhall in early 2010.
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General Motors in Europe is mainly about Opel/Vauxhall, albeit with value brand Chevrolet playing an increasingly important part. Vauxhall is perhaps something of a curiosity in that it is a brand solely for the UK, GM’s biggest European market (yes, more Vauxhalls are sold in Britain than Opels in Germany). Removing the brand anomaly and consolidating to Opel has been aired before, but the considerable costs of axing what is a well-known brand in Britain to establish Opel from scratch have always ruled it out. That and the fact that Vauxhall’s UK dealers would have kittens.
Vauxhall managing director Duncan Aldred oversees what is both a sales and manufacturing operation. Vauxhall has two vehicle manufacturing plants in Britain – Ellesmere Port (makes the Astra) and Luton (produces the Vivaro light commercial vehicle).
These are hard times for General Motors in Europe. Opel/Vauxhall very nearly left the fold in 2009 when GM in the US hit the buffers and put it up for sale. As the political debate over future cost restructuring raged, GM eventually decided that as a global player it had to hang on to it. Restructuring Opel/Vauxhall’s manufacturing operations to lower cost has been a recurring political hot potato. Recent management changes reinforce a feeling that Detroit is not happy with the pace of progress in Europe. While GM in the US makes money, Europe is continuing to make a loss.
Aldred is quick to acknowledge the difficulties facing GM in Europe.
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By GlobalData“The speed of the economic decline has taken us by surprise, rightly or wrongly,” he says. “It is disappointing that we will not be able to reduce costs quickly enough to restore that breakeven position.”
The European debt crisis and depressed forecasts for the European vehicle market aren’t exactly helping. “We actually see the European market for next year about 300,000 units lower than this year – at about 19.4m units. And it could be up to 700,000 units worse than that. We could see a million units gone across the European industry,” he says.
But he does see an opportunity ahead if GM can get its costs down in Europe, as it has successfully managed to in North America. “In the current environment you have clearly got to take action and that’s what has led to the stories about everything being on the table and that we must lower our breakeven point. I see this as an opportunity. The great success that GM has had in the US is because GM has got its breakeven point down to a very low level. It has enabled GM to make good money.”
What about the position for Vauxhall in the UK market? Aldred maintains Vauxhall has been doing well despite adverse market conditions.
“The market has been very difficult; the retail market has been down about 70,000 year-on-year. That makes it tough. The fleet and commercial vehicle markets have been flat to growing, so there has been some growth, but the most lucrative parts of the market have been down – and that goes for aftersales also, with people deferring their annual service or tyre changes and so on.
“On top of that there has been a reduction in residual values for the industry which has hurt dealers in particular, but also hits manufacturers when it comes to supporting lease. It’s been tough. But our market share has stayed constant and we have improved our sales mix away from low-profit rental to more profitable areas.”
On the manufacturing front, the weak pound versus the euro has played havoc with Vauxhall’s financial assumptions (most UK production is exported to the eurozone), though that’s swings and roundabouts when Europe as a whole is considered.
“The euro-pound relationship continues to cause us a big hit. But from a manufacturing perspective we’ll do about 200,000 vehicles this year – 60,000 vans and 140,000 Astras [Astras made at Ellesmere Port]. Seventy percent plus are exported, underlining our importance to the British economy. And we’ve had the announcement that Luton will build the next generation Vivaro which is great news.”
While the decision on whether the next generation Ampera (or indeed the one after that) will be built in Europe (Ellesmere Port a strong candidate, if a European production base is eventually opted for) has yet to be made, the Vauxhall manufacturing footprint in Britain looks pretty secure now.
Aldred is clearly relishing ambitious plans to reshape the Vauxhall brand on the back of a new product blitz. He sees the Vauxhall brand – a long-established marque with a rather staid, if solid, image – being transformed over the next few years.
“We want people to feel excited and proud to own a Vauxhall, to take the brand to new customers,” he maintains. How’s that going to happen?
Aldred focuses on three pillars for what amounts to a brand ‘transformation’.
Pillar one is Vauxhall’s sponsorship of the British football ‘home nations’ (that is, each of the national teams from the four United Kingdom constituent countries). “It is something that perhaps people wouldn’t have expected Vauxhall to do. We see that sponsorship as a way of resonating with people, getting into their hearts and minds,” he maintains. “And I am pleased that at least one of the home nations [England] has qualified for the 2012 European Championships,” he adds. “And England haven’t lost a game since we started this sponsorship deal, so hopefully that will continue through the Euros next summer…”.
The deal runs through to the end of the next World Cup Finals in Brazil in 2014, so there’s a chance that more of the home nations will qualify for that tournament and that the Vauxhall associations with the British national football teams will run even deeper by then. And the Vauxhall brand is, after all, a badge exercise defined by its British sales territory in a way that no other car brands are. On that basis alone, the sponsorship arrangement with the home nations seems to make intuitive good sense.
The second pillar Aldred identifies is Vauxhall’s ‘lifetime warranty’ (for the first owner, there’s unlimited warranty duration to a maximum of 100,000 miles). “This is another key pillar for us, something we really believe in, unique in the industry. It’s just over a year old and will reinforce the quality message and give peace of mind in very uncertain times. It also helps build loyalty and bring people into aftersales.”
The third key pillar for Vauxhall’s brand transformation is new product, led by the Ampera. “The Ampera sits there as a beacon for all the key products that we are going to be bringing out in the next few years,” he says. “The Ampera is the kind of product introduction which basically transforms a brand and can make people reappraise. The Ampera is revolutionary and will do things that other cars can’t and in doing so will transform people’s opinion of us.”
Aldred also highlights seven brand new car introductions over the next 14 months, including the Ampera, to embolden the brand. The list of seven sees Opel/Vauxhall stretching into a number of new market niches:
- Astra GTC (launching now)
- Zafira Tourer (Q1 2012)
- Combo (light commercial based on a a restyled Fiat Doblo passenger van to be brought in from Tofas Q1 2012, replaces the Corsa-based van made in Portugal and then, later, Spain – thanks Glenn/PLDB)
- Ampera (March/April 2012)
- ‘Small SUV’ (Chevrolet Trax showed at NY Show in ’07 offers some clues to this one)
- ‘Large cabriolet’ described as ‘premium’ and ‘Insignia-sized’
- ‘Junior product’ (small car with strong design focus and expected to be pitched upmarket as a rival for the Mini/Fiat 500/Citroen DS3. Will be made at Eisenach.)
There will also be a facelift for the Astra next year (Q4 – has it really been around that long already, guess it has…). And there’s the high-performance Astra VXR based on the GTC coming out in the spring.
Aldred says that the wave of upcoming new product is the culmination of an EUR11bn investment plan for Europe announced a few years ago. And he underlines the significance of the new models for the Vauxhall brand. “2012 will be a transformational year for Vauxhall. The most exciting time in our 108-year history,” he proclaims.
“Look, I’m optimistic but realistic,” he adds. “Yes, it’s tough out there, but I’d rather be in our shoes than that of our competitors because of what I know we have got to deliver over that 14-month period that is coming up. This is nothing short of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for genuine step-up transformation to take the Vauxhall brand to a new level.”
Other points and snippets:
Opel brand in Germany
“Opel is beginning to improve in Germany. There has been a malaise for the brand there, but it has improved its share in Germany a little bit. There’s great sentiment for the brand in Germany, perhaps waiting to be unlocked.”
Vauxhall’s Britishness
“For Vauxhall, we can play on the Britishness a bit more, the heritage, and the home nations’ sponsorship is a key part of that.”
UK car market prospects
“We see the UK market flat or slightly down in 2012, but things are moving quite quickly [with economic forecasts being revised down]. As with the modest decline we have for Europe that could be worse, the UK car market could turn into something like a 5-10% reduction depending on how serious the economic downturn becomes.”
Fleet lift for UK car market
“When the economic crisis hit in ’08 and ’09, a lot of people extended leases for a year or two. Even rental companies who would normally turn their cars over six months were keeping them for 12/18 months. What’s driving the fleet market is operators saying ‘enough is enough’, the warranty has expired or the mileage is getting too high. And there has been some economic growth this year as well. What we see in the industry is that commercial vehicles are the first to react to a downturn, then fleet then private retail, and it’s broadly the same order when the cycle turns positive and we have seen commercial vehicle and car fleet sales moving up. Retail, on the other hand, is yet to move up.”
On leading the UK’s commercial vehicle market retail sector
“For the first-time ever we’re going to be number one (ahead of Ford) in retail commercial vehicle market (market share 16%). That’s phenomenal; a headline achievement. Ford will probably pip us in the car fleet market. We’ve tried to pull away from lower profit business there this year. We want better residual values for our cars, which means not oversupplying the rental companies – that’s a key part of the strategy for the brand. We made a step-change decision to supply a lot less to the lower profit elements of the business. Through the second half of next year we expect that the residual values [for Vauxhalls] will start to pick up markedly.”
Future gen Ampera to be made at Ellesmere Port?
“We’re so far away from making that decision. The discussion probably won’t happen until 2015. There is significant capacity available in the US. The idea behind making it in Europe is: is there a capacity reason to do it and also is there an economic reason to do that? Given near-term industry outlooks across the world, there is plenty of upside at the factory in the US if we’re honest.”
On the Volt and Ampera selling alongside each other
“In the mainstream markets those brand shares are very different. Any confusion will be minimal. In Western Europe, Chevrolet will have only a handful of distribution points. The products are differentiated a little bit through specification and quite a lot through styling. It’s not ideal, but I think you’ll see even more differentiation for the next generation.
A pure electric ‘Junior product’?
“That’s on hold at the moment and being re-evaluated.”
RAK e concept (shown at Frankfurt) for production?
“We have a serious study looking at that – can we make it work, how would we bring it to the market and so on…I’d love to see it come to the market.”
UK volumes for the Ampera
“Around 5,000 a year. [Volts will be a ‘handful’]. The low volume target for Ampera is representative of the newness of the technology, the high price tag. The next generation will be cheaper and the price should come down pretty quickly.”
Fleet/retail split for Ampera
“Ampera stands out for fleets because pure electric vehicles are so limiting. There are a number of blue-chip fleet customers who are very interested, they have their CO2 targets to meet and they want a vehicle that works. [There is already a pan-European deal with Europcar, police forces are mentioned.] We expect on the retail side to get premium brand customers coming in – people who have perhaps not considered a Vauxhall before. We are working on a 60/40 fleet-retail split, but it could easily be 50/50 – we’ll see. Availability on Ampera will be restricted, certainly next year.”
