Does Vauxhall still make sense?
Does Vauxhall still make sense?
Author
Discussion

Ciid

Original Poster:

247 posts

128 months

Yesterday (01:18)
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Vauxhall has always been a way for the Germans at Opel to deceive English consumers into thinking they were buying English cars, and for several decades it worked. The problem is that Vauxhall nowadays has a terrible image in the UK and increasingly declining sales. Don't you think they should launch cars as Opel in the UK, as they do throughout Europe? Vauxhall makes no sense these days, imho.

Ciid

Original Poster:

247 posts

128 months

Yesterday (01:23)
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Geertsen

1,377 posts

77 months

Yesterday (01:35)
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The craziest stat there is how consistent the MG sales were! Over 81,000 cars and they were within 250 year-on-year.

Mad Maximus

715 posts

21 months

Yesterday (02:12)
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Ciid said:
Vauxhall has always been a way for the Germans at Opel to deceive English consumers into thinking they were buying English cars, and for several decades it worked. The problem is that Vauxhall nowadays has a terrible image in the UK and increasingly declining sales. Don't you think they should launch cars as Opel in the UK, as they do throughout Europe? Vauxhall makes no sense these days, imho.
There isn’t much legacy to Vauxhall anymore. And certainly hardly any to anyone that would buy the new cars. I agree. Have a relaunch with somthing cool like an electric competitor to the new 5. Maybe a “lotus corsa” to trade on the old school but moving forward.

Quhet

2,726 posts

164 months

Yesterday (05:26)
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I'm not sure that Vauxhall is much to do with being British any more, probably just as much about familiarity for the typical punter than anything else. Change to Opal and I reckon you'd alienate a certain section of their customer base who perhaps wouldn't realise the cars are the same

LandieMark

1,880 posts

166 months

Yesterday (06:53)
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When I was a kid growing up, Opels were sold in the UK alongside Vauxhall's and they were way sexier. Opel Manta & Opel Ascona spring to mind. There wasn't a Vauxhall equivalent of the Manta, but the Cavalier (essentially the same car with slightly different styling) was nowhere near as sexy as an Ascona.

PovertyPrince

455 posts

44 months

Yesterday (06:58)
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I’m quite shocked Kia is far up that list

Athlon

5,520 posts

224 months

Yesterday (07:00)
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LandieMark said:
When I was a kid growing up, Opels were sold in the UK alongside Vauxhall's and they were way sexier. Opel Manta & Opel Ascona spring to mind. There wasn't a Vauxhall equivalent of the Manta, but the Cavalier (essentially the same car with slightly different styling) was nowhere near as sexy as an Ascona.
Cavalier coupe and sportshatch were Manta's with a crappy front end.

GolfDragon

252 posts

85 months

Yesterday (07:03)
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Since the Peugeot group took over Vauxhall, a lot of their cars aren’t really unique any more as they share platforms with other Peugeots which is a shame as it’s nice to see some individuality between brands. But ultimately it wouldn’t be cost effective

UK_Scat_Pack

324 posts

174 months

Yesterday (07:13)
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Vauxhalls have awful reliability and build quality over the past 30 years and now being owned by Peugeot won’t help them. A brand infamous with poor reliability and build quality!

Andy86GT

719 posts

83 months

Yesterday (07:16)
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I've had several Vauxhalls and an Opel (Manta). However I'd be very wary of buying one now in case it has the Stellantis engine with the stupid oily cam belt.

kambites

70,083 posts

239 months

Yesterday (07:25)
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As above, it's value is in its continuity/familiarity. Same reason the MG brand has value, despite having only the most tenuous link to the original company which wasn't exactly highly regarded itself for it's last few decades.

Sheepshanks

38,161 posts

137 months

Yesterday (07:27)
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UK_Scat_Pack said:
Vauxhalls have awful reliability and build quality over the past 30 years and now being owned by Peugeot won t help them. A brand infamous with poor reliability and build quality!
Ironic really that I was so impressed by my Peugeot 405 GTX company rep-mobile after years of Cavaliers that I bought my wife a 106.

v8notbrave

97 posts

31 months

Yesterday (07:29)
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I don't think most brands make sense, the Chinese are coming, stellantis on its knees, Porsche having a wobble, Jag will never launch a car. There will be more mega mergers as the dying brands try to avoid 2008 type collapses/ bail outs. German brands now lobbying EU to extend 2035 deadline as it is the death knell for many brands

PovertyPrince

455 posts

44 months

Yesterday (07:31)
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Quite impressed with the PSA stuff of the last few years actually

Jamescrs

5,585 posts

83 months

Yesterday (07:33)
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I think Vauxhall still has it's place in the market, I wouldn't expect anyone on Pistonheads to be buying one in the main but a lot of people still do, my in laws swear by Vauxhall and don't buy anything else including my brother in law and more extended family of the Mrs, they don't have any family tie to the brand but for some reason they just love it.

Vauxhall is still very popular with the elderly owners and Motability drivers, seemingly the Mokka and Grandland are very convenient for older people with mobility issues.

Corsa's still have an appeal for younger drivers before they move on to the Golf or BMW 1 series or other small German hatch.

I'm not sure a rebrand to Opel would particularly help their cause at this point.

valiant

12,692 posts

178 months

Yesterday (08:10)
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Vauxhall is simply one of those brands that seem most under threat from the Chinese invasion. They were traditionally bought because they offered value and had a plethora of dealers and both of those have now gone. If you don’t really know or care about cars then you’re not going to traipse over to the next town to buy when they’ll be some Chinese brand locally or able to be bought and delivered online.

The likes of MG have been nicking their core customers for a while now and that’s only going to get worse as we see BYD, Jaecoo, Chery and a host of others move into their turf further eroding their market position. Same with Ford. What to they offer outside of vans nowadays?

It’s only a matter of time anyway before Stellantis streamline their product range and then we’ll see the loss of Vauxhall as a brand alongside a few others from their stable as well.

Silver75

850 posts

238 months

Yesterday (08:15)
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Ciid said:
Vauxhall has always been a way for the Germans at Opel to deceive English consumers into thinking they were buying English cars, and for several decades it worked
Vauxhall has not always been a way for the Germans at Opel to deceive English consumers into thinking they were buying English cars.

Vauxhall goes back over a hundred years, and it was only until the mid/late 1970s did the UK arm of GM lose its design capability to the Germans.

And until very recently, Vauxhall's bread and butter cars were built in Elsemere Port and Luton. The Corsa was always built in Spain.

I think Ford have been the best at deceiving UK drivers that their cars are British built.

Crafty_

13,746 posts

218 months

Yesterday (08:26)
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Ciid said:
Vauxhall has always been a way for the Germans at Opel to deceive English consumers into thinking they were buying English cars, and for several decades it worked. The problem is that Vauxhall nowadays has a terrible image in the UK and increasingly declining sales. Don't you think they should launch cars as Opel in the UK, as they do throughout Europe? Vauxhall makes no sense these days, imho.
I wouldn't agree that the pubic were being deceived and would suggest that many didn't give a toss about the badge on the front, they'd have quite happily bought from the 80s on if it had an Opel badge, indeed some owners even sought to replace their vauxhall bdges with Opel(or sometimes even Holden) ones.

However, since PSA got their hands on the company there really isn't any point, why buy a Vauxhall over a Peugeot ?

s m

24,030 posts

221 months

Yesterday (08:30)
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Athlon said:
Cavalier coupe and sportshatch were Manta's with a crappy front end.
Because the Manta had a slotted front panel?