Have Vauxhall alwasys just been another name for Opel?

[Danny S]

I was wondering this on the way to work this morning.

As i have only been around for 18 years or so every vauxhall i see just seems to be a rebranded car. Is Vauxhall even a real brand anymore?

Was it ever a real brand or was it always just Opel? What happened :?

So many questions i know but hopefully someone can take the time to explain this fad for me

Regards
Dan

[pikey]

Opel was a seperate company (German).

GM bought Vauxhall and Opel but chose to keep both brands as they're strong in their respective countries.

[Hugo a Gogo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxhall_Motors

[kambites]

Vauxhall was an independent car company until 1925, when it was bought by GM.

[pikey]

.. ie. same car, comes out of the same factory, gets different badges dependent on destination.

[Pothole]

both European branches of GM

'twas not always thus:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxhall_Motors bought by GM in 1925, Opel was bought in 1929

[Danny S]

Watching TopGear though and reading blogs on the web you always see reviewers saying things like "what Vauxhall have done to the VXR is..."

When maybe it should be "What Opel have done with the OPC"

Surely OPC and VXR are just the same too? As in Opel Astra OPC and Vauxhall Astra VXR have not been independantley tuned?

[motco]

No. It was a marque of British car built in south London - in err, Vauxhall.

[rudecherub]

Danny S said:

Watching TopGear though and reading blogs on the web you always see reviewers saying things like "what Vauxhall have done to the VXR is..."

When maybe it should be "What Opel have done with the OPC"

Surely OPC and VXR are just the same too? As in Opel Astra OPC and Vauxhall Astra VXR have not been independantley tuned?

It would be fairer perhaps to say what GM Europe ie General Motors has done with VKR...

[Danny S]

rudecherub said:

Danny S said:

Watching TopGear though and reading blogs on the web you always see reviewers saying things like "what Vauxhall have done to the VXR is..."

When maybe it should be "What Opel have done with the OPC"

Surely OPC and VXR are just the same too? As in Opel Astra OPC and Vauxhall Astra VXR have not been independantley tuned?

It would be fairer perhaps to say what GM Europe ie General Motors has done with VKR...

Ahh, suppose your on the nail there!

[KaraK]

Danny S said:

Watching TopGear though and reading blogs on the web you always see reviewers saying things like "what Vauxhall have done to the VXR is..."

When maybe it should be "What Opel have done with the OPC"

Surely OPC and VXR are just the same too? As in Opel Astra OPC and Vauxhall Astra VXR have not been independantley tuned?

Well it makes sense to refer to the car by the brand it is known as in the target country - since Top Gear is aimed primarily at the UK where GM's brand is Vauxhall then referring to them as Opel's would probably be wrong!

[Danny S]

KaraK said:

Danny S said:

Watching TopGear though and reading blogs on the web you always see reviewers saying things like "what Vauxhall have done to the VXR is..."

When maybe it should be "What Opel have done with the OPC"

Surely OPC and VXR are just the same too? As in Opel Astra OPC and Vauxhall Astra VXR have not been independantley tuned?

Well it makes sense to refer to the car by the brand it is known as in the target country - since Top Gear is aimed primarily at the UK where GM's brand is Vauxhall then referring to them as Opel's would probably be wrong!

I didn't mean they should start calling Vauxhall Opel, that would be silly.

What i meant was that they are crediting Vauxhall for work that Opel/GM did? I

[Dunclane]

Danny S said:

KaraK said:

Danny S said:

Watching TopGear though and reading blogs on the web you always see reviewers saying things like "what Vauxhall have done to the VXR is..."

When maybe it should be "What Opel have done with the OPC"

Surely OPC and VXR are just the same too? As in Opel Astra OPC and Vauxhall Astra VXR have not been independantley tuned?

Well it makes sense to refer to the car by the brand it is known as in the target country - since Top Gear is aimed primarily at the UK where GM's brand is Vauxhall then referring to them as Opel's would probably be wrong!

I didn't mean they should start calling Vauxhall Opel, that would be silly.

What i meant was that they are crediting Vauxhall for work that Opel/GM did? I

Vauxhall IS Opel/GM

[qube_TA]

How come the Manta was always an Opel and not a Vauxhall?

[KaraK]

Dunclane said:

Danny S said:

KaraK said:

Danny S said:

Watching TopGear though and reading blogs on the web you always see reviewers saying things like "what Vauxhall have done to the VXR is..."

When maybe it should be "What Opel have done with the OPC"

Surely OPC and VXR are just the same too? As in Opel Astra OPC and Vauxhall Astra VXR have not been independantley tuned?

Well it makes sense to refer to the car by the brand it is known as in the target country - since Top Gear is aimed primarily at the UK where GM's brand is Vauxhall then referring to them as Opel's would probably be wrong!

I didn't mean they should start calling Vauxhall Opel, that would be silly.

What i meant was that they are crediting Vauxhall for work that Opel/GM did? I

Vauxhall IS Opel/GM

Exactly, Opel is exactly the same as Vauxhall - it's just a badge GM put on their cars in certain markets. You'll find that alot of "Opel" badged cars come out of "Vauxhall" badged factories and the reverse is probably also true.

[LayZ]

qube_TA said:

How come the Manta was always an Opel and not a Vauxhall?

Also always wondered this.

[clonmult]

LayZ said:

qube_TA said:

How come the Manta was always an Opel and not a Vauxhall?

Also always wondered this.

Marketing? It was trying to come across as a sportier variant of the cavalier?

One of my first cars was a 1981 Vauxhall Astra 1200S ... saloon. Everything under the bonnet was badged as Opel.

[Trevelyan]

Astras are built at a Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port and branded as Opel and Vauxhall. Likewise other models such as Corsas and Insignias are built at Opel plants in Europe and badged as both brands. Vauxhall is basically a UK based brand name, although Vauxhall does trade as a seperate UK registered legal entity still.

[LuS1fer]

Opel and vauxhall made entirely different cars up until the early 80s when the Vauxhall range began to get old and it made sense to amalgamate the costs into one range. The amalgamation began with the Chevette which had an Opel Kadett equivalent in the 70s though Vauxhall continued to use their trusty 1256cc engine and their own 1.8/2.3 litre slant four engines while the Opel used their own 1200cc unit. The 70's 1800/2300 Vauxhall Victor/VX4/90 and Ventora had no link to the Opel 1.6 and 1.9 Commodores and similaryly the Firenza/Manta were different.

The Mk 1 Cavalier was basically an Opel Rekord but modified by taking the look of the Mk 2 Manta drooping nose albeit the front ends were different and the Manta remained a development of the Mk 1 RWD chassis. The Mk 1 Cav was also RWD and it wasn't until the FWD Mk 2 Cavalier/Opel Rekord that the two became the same cars. Similarly, the FWD Astra Mk 1 replaced the RWD Chevette and the fwd Opel Kadett was the same car although with the Mk 2 (or was it 3?) Astra, Opel dropped the Kadett badge and took the more popular Astra badge to replace Kadett. Only with the advent of the Vectra did the Vauxhall/Opel mid-size cars adopt the same name although IIRC the Carlton and Omega remained distinctly named throughout.

Vauxhall did market modified versions of the joint lineup such that the Vauxhall Royale was a version of the Opel Monza GSE and they had other versions like the Viceroy saloon.

That said, they are no different to VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda using common cores albeit with different window dressin, it's just that they only change the badge as it's cheaper and each have a following in their home market.

Edited by LuS1fer on Wednesday 18th August 13:33

[RobM77]

What I've often wondered is whether Opels are called Vauxhalls in the UK to feed off the brand image that Vauxhall had in the 20s. Surely that's such old history now that the time's come to call them all Opels?

If I'm right, the cars also had different model names too. I'm sure when I've been in mainland Europe I've seen Cavalier written on the back of a Vectra or the other way round, or somethign similar. I remember seeing something that made me look twice anyway.