Vauxhall to follow Saab?

[JayTee94]

Fire99 said:

Not to mention, we need more manufacturing in this country. Not less.

I agree with this.

[New POD]

GM have over capacity in Europe.
GM were paid $££$$E's by Germany to save German Factories.
GM have always made plants bid for the contract to make cars and parts, and engines.
Ellesmere Port used to make all V6's, but Canadian plant got contract in about 2003
GM will be charging 'Management' charges to all plants, and do interesting 'cross-country' pricing so that they make profits in most tax effective region. I'm guessing half the loses will be because of that. Parts bought from other plants at a high transfer price, Overheads to HQ,
GM don't care about any heritage, otherwise why make daewoo's and call them chevy's.

[Agem]

I think we do very well for car production, i mean:-
Mini
Nissan
Toyota
Honda
Landrover
Jag

Sadly its not that big an employer these days with say the 70's.

I think the Astra IS over priced for what it is & Vauxhall badge is not going to find a home up the driveway of a Merc/BMW/Audi pilot. I think there will be a lot pain & some brands just Die! (Rover/Saab) I think Fiat/Pug are on borrowed time...........

Mike

[VolvoT5]

The only Vauxhalls I have driven recently were bloody awful. OK they were older models (05 Vectra, Signum, etc), but still shocking handling and the feeling that something electronic is going to break on almost every trip.

Can't see why anyone but fleet managers would buy them new.

[blank]

PumpkinSteve said:

I'm always hearing about how Vauxhall don't make any money. Given the sheer amount of cars they sell, what more could they possibly do?

They make no money because they give the cars away to fleets and lease companies.

They don't do brilliantly with people who are spending their own money as the cars aren't up to the same standard of the competition.

I can see chevrolet doing OK. They make better cars than vauxhall and they're cheap enough to be competitive in the private market.

[Kentish]

A few months back I was looking at circa 4 year old Mondeo ST's and then I looked at the VXR, the Vauxhall didn't handle quite as well but boy was it much better built than the Ford and faster.

I ended up buying the less "shouty" V6 Turbo Elite model with the same VXR engine but no frilly bits such as spoilers but with a more compliant ride and all the toys

I have also just been looking at a 2008 Astra Estate and again, much more solidly built than anything French or sporting the blue oval.

And I generally like Fords!

Makes me wonder why they are not doing so well as there are scores of Vauxhalls everywhere.

[Matthen]

Agem said:

I think we do very well for car production, i mean:-
Mini
Nissan
Toyota
Honda
Landrover
Jag

Sadly its not that big an employer these days with say the 70's.

I think the Astra IS over priced for what it is & Vauxhall badge is not going to find a home up the driveway of a Merc/BMW/Audi pilot. I think there will be a lot pain & some brands just Die! (Rover/Saab) I think Fiat/Pug are on borrowed time...........

Mike

Peugeot id agree with you, but fiat, don't think so. The 500 sold very well, the new panda is likely to do the same, the electrical/reliability gremlins are all but sorted and the new twin air engine is unique, and will make them a huge amount of money in the long run. Don't forget, fiat powertrain technologies have be behind some of the major advances in the ICE world - they made the first common rail diesel engine for example.

Nope, can't see them going anywhere anytime soon.

[carmadgaz]

danyeates said:

£24k for a Corsa?! See TG the other day? Who buys these things?

I wouldn't pay £2.40 for a Corsa, always had an irrational hated of the damn things

[PumpkinSteve]

carmadgaz said:

I wouldn't pay £2.40 for a Corsa, always had an irrational hated of the damn things

Vauxhall knock half off the list price as soon as you step through the door, don't they? If you compare the list price to actual selling price, you difference is a joke.

[stemll]

Fire99 said:

And I have to say, I had a CDTi Vectra Elite, and to live with, far preferred it to a Ghia X Mondeo TDCi of the same era. (2005)

Not to mention, we need more manufacturing in this country. Not less.

I thought all Insignias were built at Rüsselsheim?

If you want UK manufacturing, go buy a Honda or Nissan .

[Fire99]

stemll said:

I thought all Insignias were built at Rüsselsheim?

If you want UK manufacturing, go buy a Honda or Nissan .

That's a dramatic sweep past the point. SOME Vauxhall manufacturing occurs in the UK. There are over 3000 employees in Luton and Ellesmere. Regardless of what is made, that is a loss we don't want to make.

[Jimbo.]

Vulgar LS2 said:

would anyone miss them if they were to go?

Yup, and I dislike Vauxhalls!

I feel sorry for the poor sods who, surely, must find themselves wondering about their jobs with all this going on

[Wacky Racer]

Last year Mrs WR bought a new VXR Astra arctic....

List was around 23k, but with all the discounts for this and that and that and this came down to 16.5k

Great car btw.....

[stemll]

Fire99 said:

stemll said:

I thought all Insignias were built at Rüsselsheim?

If you want UK manufacturing, go buy a Honda or Nissan .

That's a dramatic sweep past the point. SOME Vauxhall manufacturing occurs in the UK. There are over 3000 employees in Luton and Ellesmere. Regardless of what is made, that is a loss we don't want to make.

Well you mentioned your Vectra so I just updated the model

[Kentish]

Wacky Racer said:

Last year Mrs WR bought a new VXR Astra arctic....

List was around 23k, but with all the discounts for this and that and that and this came down to 16.5k

Great car btw.....

I guess if I'm honest they generally don't have the most dynamic handling compared to some other makes but they do have an excellent quality feel to their construction.

All the doors on the Vectra close with a lovely clunk and not the tinny twang of most other euroboxes.

[jamei303]

Kentish said:

All the doors on the Vectra close with a lovely clunk and not the tinny twang of most other euroboxes.

Surely you know the door-closing sound is engineered to consumer tastes and bares no relationship to the build quality of the door?

[Kentish]

jamei303 said:

Surely you know the door-closing sound is engineered to consumer tastes and bares no relationship to the build quality of the door?

Surely must have some relationship to the weight of the door too and they feel heavier than my wife's Nissan for example.

Also, we had a Peugeot MPV thingy on hire the other weekend and the panels on that were like tinfoil, you could gently press them in with one finger, I kid you not!

[Fire99]

stemll said:

Well you mentioned your Vectra so I just updated the model

Blimey, this is hard work Vectra was mentioned in comparison to the Mondeo of the same era, not about UK manufacturing.

[stemll]

Fire99 said:

stemll said:

Well you mentioned your Vectra so I just updated the model

Blimey, this is hard work Vectra was mentioned in comparison to the Mondeo of the same era, not about UK manufacturing.

You're right, it is hard work and we're clearly at crossed purposes so let's park it. In my (weak) defence, this Finnish vodka is far too moreish.

Move along people, nothing to see here.

[007 VXR]

Vulgar LS2 said:

JayTee94 said:

Vulgar LS2 said:

would anyone miss them if they were to go?

I might, I have always (mostly) preferred VX to Fords. JayTee94's household have owned a fair few aswell.

I can honestly say that there is nothing they sell at the moment that I think is worth buying. I for one wouldn't miss them and I used to always have VX over ford.

Monaros are great