Vauxhall [and European sibling Opel] faces the challenge of launching seven new cars and commercial vehicles this year including four cars in sectors which are new to the automaker.
The electric range-extender Ampera, which has just been named European Car of the Year, will be rolled out alongside a small SUV called Mokka which was unveiled at Geneva [the Buick version was launched at Detroit in January] and a Mini/Fiat 500 rival, the Junior. There will also be a 275bhp Astra VXR, a facelift for the rest of the Astra range and a large MPV, the Zafira Tourer.
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With so many cars in niches new to the company it is going to be tough to get them known and understood, admits Vauxhall managing director Duncan Aldred.
“To establish a new name plate is expensive and difficult,” he said. “I think Insignia is still not recognised as well as Cavalier even though it is years since we used that name.”
Aldred admits that “a disproportionate amount” of Vauxhall’s marketing budget will be spent on informing people about the Ampera in 2012 even though sales will probably be no more than 3,000.
“The Ampera is going to be a brand-builder for us which will cast a halo on the rest of the range in the most exciting year in our history,” he explained.
He expects big things of the Mokka, a two- or four-wheel-drive rival for the Nissan Juke, based on the Corsa platform.
“This where the market is going – complete practicality, a high driving position, compact and affordable, with green engines. I think it could be our third-best seller next year,” he said.
Unlike other recent Vauxhall city cars, the Junior will be developed in-house rather than in collaboration with Suzuki.
“It will be an all-GM product based on our B-segment (Corsa) platform and developed in Europe for Vauxhall and Opel. It will be as unique in its own way as the Ampera and could be a real shot in the arm for us,” Aldred said.
“There will be a petrol engine at first but we are looking at others and we will have lots of personalisation options but not just like Mini or Fiat. We will move the game on.”
One of those will be a ‘bring your own media’ connectivity system allowing owners to sync the car with portable device.
