GM’s restructuring of the Opel brand is proved to be very costly, and has drained billions from GM in the last year alone. Now GM is looking for loans to keep the European brand alive, specifically, it’s asking for at least $3 billion in loans from Germany and other European countries where Opel has manufacturing factories, citing that it’ll otherwise cost more job losses. Opel has already terminated 10,000 jobs in Europe as part of the restructuring plan.
Opel has revealed their rather futuristic looking Opel Flextreme GT/E concept car, an all electric vehicle built on the Chevrolet Volt base. The car will be powered by a 120 kW electric motor which can run 37 miles on battery power, before the 1.4 liter engine kicks in and generates electricity. It’s range is said to be well over 300 miles.
Opel has released an updated version of the popular Opel Corsa in Europe — which accounts for almost 30% of Opel’s sales in Europe. While the exterior has remained unchanged, the engines have been upgraded, there are now choices of five engines: a 1.0 liter, 1.4 liter and a 1.6 turbo, plus three diesel engines as well.
The new Opel CEO, Nick Reily, has unveiled a massive restructuring plan for the struggling German brand. The five year plan will cost $15 billion and will cut over 8,300 jobs, both in manufacturing and administrative sectors. Opel plans to kick start the restructuring plan by introducing 8 new modes in 2010 alone.
GM has announced that it plans to close the production plant in Antwerp in order to save costs, as a part of a new restructuring plan. In all, GM will cut 8,300 jobs in Europe — half of which will be in Germany. Opel will have to cut production by 20 percent, starting with the closure of the Antwerp plant, where over 2,600 workers will be laid off.
The new and lengthy Opel Astra commercial mimics Ocean’s Eleven to quite an extent, not only the style, framing, but the music as well. And the content of the commercial itself? It’s quite lame, as you can see for yourself.
Okay, so the VTEC sound effect guy was a little shaky, but don’t worry, we’ve got some more great video here for you. This time, we’re joining the Top Gear boys once again as we go out with the–get this–Vauxhall Insignia.
There will, naturally, be some awesome news in here presented in the grand Top Gear comedic style. For instance, if you look at the steering wheel of any Vauxhall, you can tell if it’s a turbo or not by looking for the little Vauxhall badge. This may or may not be why it’s called an Insignia–I couldn’t tell.
This particular model has a 2.8 liter V6, and thus puts plenty of power on the road–328 horsepower worth if I heard correctly.
And the suspension even comes with different selectable modes, if you can believe that. There’s little doubt, especially based on the footage you’ll see below, that the Vauxhall Insignia is an unbelievable machine with lots to like.
Tags: Insignia, Opel/Vauxhall, Top Gear, Vauxhall, Vauxhall Insignia
If Opel’s really planning to take market share away from Volkswagen, then they’d better pack a lunch because it’ll be a LONG day. Volkswagen has plans on the board to introduce TWO new models, the former chief executive of Volkswagen said while at the Frankfurt Auto Show.
This is already significant enough news in the face of a badly contracted economy–introducing new models is a cash-intensive process that requires loads of money and plenty of time and advertising, as well as focus groups, design and redesign and all like that.
But the new designs themselves may be the newest part, as they’re going to come out of the upcoming acquisition of Porsche.
Now that’s got my motor running–what if we get a car that looks like a Porsche with the gas mileage of a Volkswagen? That’d be a dream car right there, and one everybody else would be scrambling to imitate.
Tags: Frankfurt Auto Show, Opel, Porsche, volkswagen
Is it just me, or does the upcoming word out of the Frankfurt Auto Show look like a bad soap opera? Seriously–this is nuts. One of the biggest such tidbits is how Opel is revamping the Astra line to pit it against Volkswagen.
No, seriously–considering that Opel is in the tank anyway because of its GM connections, and the further fact that it’s surviving on a massive loan from the German government, it’s probably not a good idea for it to go after the iconic German automobile that is Volkswagen.
It’s especially worse given the rest of the hurdles that Opel will be operating under. They can only sell their cars in certain countries, their connection to GM is hampering their local operations, there’s that whole “surviving on a giant loan” thing, the boost from the European version of cash for clunkers is SHOT…frankly, this is just bad for Opel all the way around.
Tags: Cash for Clunkers, Frankfort Auto Show, GM, government loan, Opel, volkswagen