There’s an unintended result of Europe’s block exemption rules, which loosened carmakers’ stranglehold on what brands franchised dealers can sell. A group of major Opel dealers in Germany will soon begin sharing their showroom floors with a Chinese-built SUV called the Landwind.
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Made by Jiangling Motors Corp. in Nanchang, China, the Landwind will make its European debut at the IAA motor show in Frankfurt.
Peter Bijvelds, a Dutch car dealer and managing director of Landwind Europe, has pulled a coup in getting a group of major Opel dealers to sell the Landwind. His company, Landwind Europe Ltd. based in Brasschaat, Belgium, has a contract to sell the Opel Frontera-based model and other Jiangling products in 35 European countries.
Some Opel dealers, which have seen declining sales in recent years, say they’re happy to get an additional product to sell. “Since Opel saw its market share plunge from 17% a few years ago, to today’s 11%, we have a 33% overcapacity at our premises,” said Peter Dahlmann, managing director of Drehsen, a Neuss, Germany dealer group coordinating Landwind distribution.
Alain Visser, executive director, Vauxhall/Opel marketing, was unaware of the initiatives by Opel dealer groups to develop a nationwide Landwind network.
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By GlobalData“This is completely new to me, that could be interesting,” Vissers said. “But the block exemption legislation offers such options as long as they do not use the Opel infrastructure.”
Uwe Heimann, managing director of the German Opel dealer council in Frankfurt was surprised to learn about the forthcoming alliance between Landwind and some German Opel dealer groups.
“This is the first time I have heard about it,” he said.
Heimann added that “some Opel dealer are already representing other brands since the new Block Exemption legislation became viable. But that has not resulted in any friction with Opel, as long as trading other brands does not conflict with Opel standards.”
AVAG Holding, an Opel dealer group in Augsburg, is also seeking new business with Chinese brands, if not with Landwind, industry sources say.
The first shipment of 200 Chinese-made Landwind SUVs arrived at the docks in Antwerp in June, and a second shipment of 500 units bound for Europe is scheduled to sail from China August 20.
“The first cars are now being delivered,” Bijvelds said.
The Landwind is built on a modified Opel Frontera base with a Mitsubishi engine.
The Frontera itself is a derivative of the Isuzu Rodeo, never widely sold in Europe [though it was a popular Vauxhall model in the UK, albeit renowned in its early days for reliability problems].
Bijveld has taken orders for 470 vehicles and predicts sales of 1,500 units by the end of the year. Bijvelds will introduce the Landwind at Frankfurt and will also announce his German network for the budget SUV, priced at €14,990.
“We are putting together a network of 200 outlets with about 10 large German Opel dealer groups,” Bijvelds said.
“The German market potential of Landwind is enormous, with growing demand for value models,” he added. “The current model will sell at half the price of the coming Opel SUV, or other similar SUVs.”
The Hyundai Sante Fe, and Kia Sorento are competitors.
Dahlmann says he expects 2,000 Landwinds will sell in Germany in 2006.
But Bijvelds is working on more networks elsewhere in Europe. “Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands should have networks in place this year,” he said. “Now we are talking with some dealer groups in Spain and Italy.”
Automotive News Europe
Photos: autoindex.org
