General Motors German operation Opel is to stop making the Omega sedan and wagon range, replacing it with an upper mid-range car to boost its market share, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper said, citing company sources.
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GM Europe will replace current Omega (top) with new upper-mid-range model; Cadillac will develop replacement for US Catera version (below) |
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The newspaper added that Opel would save on development costs by developing the car jointly with other GM brands, including Saab and Cadillac.
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GM chief executive Richard Wagoner has approved the step, the paper said, and Saab, GM’s premium European brand, is now developing a concept for the new car.
The Omega is one of the last of its type – a large luxury car sold in Europe as both an Opel and a Vauxhall by a maker not perceived by the market as a luxury car maker. Ford Europe dropped its rival Scorpio line-up several years ago, leaving its Jaguar brand to compete in a sector now dominated by the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
The Omega is also sold in the U.S. as the Cadillac Catera but the German-built car has not met ambitious sales targets. Recent reports from the U.S. have said that Cadillac will design and build a replacement model.
Welt am Sonntag said that Opel’s German ex-BMW chief executive Carl-Peter Forster, who succeeded American Robert Hendry at the beginning of April, wants to improve the carmaker’s image and increase sales.
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By GlobalDataOpel lost DM835 million ($US376 million) in 2000 while its market share in western Europe fell from 10.9 percent a year earlier to 10.2 percent.
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