The slow death of Vauxhall?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Diplomat B showing off its Cadillacesque front:

 

 

 

Compare with Admiral's:

 

 

After the decision not to sell the Diplo as a Cadillac, this was the common front end for all big Opels.

Towards the end even the Diplomat moniker was dropped, only the Admiral held out to the bitter end.

So there were some Admiral V8s.

 

 

If the Diplomat had been built in 2/4 door forms in the US and badged Cadillac, I don't think the Merc, XJ or E3 would have had it so easy. What stunning car. What a stunning own goal for GM.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Yes, but in Britain at least you could probably have a Mk2, an E-Type and a Mk10 for the same price.

 

For a Man of means, this is like saying you can buy ten bottles of Stella, a crate of Carlsberg and some blue nun for the price of a very fine 8 year old Argentinian Malbec.

 

Britain had nothing to offer those buying these Opels, SEB Mercedes or 2800CS BMW's. If you wanted British it was the Jaguars with their superficial flash, a lumbering Bristol or - to be fair - an early Shadow.

 

Germany and Italy made some truly stunning cars back then, as did the likes of Cadillac and Lincoln. 

[Cavcraft]

Rightly or wrongly, I doubt GM saw much point in chasing BMW etc for the luxury car market. Sure I read somewhere that Ford sacked the idea off after the Frog faced Scorpio, and GM after the Omega as it wasn’t getting them anywhere.

Maybe they offered those ‘luxury’ cars at the time as they didn’t want to miss out, or be seen to. I reckon that’s why 4x4 Cavaliers, Mondeos and BXs (amongst others) were knocked out, I.e the makers didn’t want a range they didn’t have.

 

Not sure if just rebranding everything Opel now instead will help, but who knows?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The time for rebranding as Opel was when the Insignia came out. It is an Opel, built in Germany. Even the Buick Regal - a 2.8 V6 Insignia - is built there.

 

Vauxhall has negative connotations, has done for decades. There has to be a very good reason why they didn't do it, but it escapes me. Perhaps PSA will do it. I doubt they will flush it down the bog as it has too much market penetration. Perhaps they could ease it in as a top model with Opel badging?

 

I doubt you could get away with an Opel Corsa or Astra just yet. Start at the top and work down.

 

I'm seeing more and more new Insigs - they're a handsome car. 

[catsinthewelder]

Perhaps a better alternative would have been for GM to shift the ex-Daewoo products into the Vauxhall range and launch the Opel Insignia and Adam as a new range selling either alongside Saab or instead of in the ex-Saab dealer's.

 

It just seems insane for a company the size of GM to withdraw from selling 3-4 lines of products (Daewoo/Chevy, Vauxhall/Opel,Saab and US products) to nothing within 10 years.

 

Edit, cross posted with RBJ

[barefoot]

 I read somewhere that Ford sacked the idea off (chasing the luxury market) after the Frog faced Scorpio...

 

 

I remember reading that the Scorpio would be Ford's final luxury car, because around that point it had bought into Jaguar.

 

See also Mondeo/X type.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I remember reading that the Scorpio would be Ford's final luxury car, because around that point it had bought into Jaguar.

 

See also Mondeo/X type.

 

 

That ended well.

 

 

That whole episode showed how clueless Ford execs were. 

[Junkman]

For a Man of means, this is like saying you can buy ten bottles of Stella, a crate of Carlsberg and some blue nun for the price of a very fine 8 year old Argentinian Malbec.

 

Britain had nothing to offer those buying these Opels, SEB Mercedes or 2800CS BMW's. If you wanted British it was the Jaguars with their superficial flash, a lumbering Bristol or - to be fair - an early Shadow.

 

Germany and Italy made some truly stunning cars back then, as did the likes of Cadillac and Lincoln. 

 

Two words - Range Rover.

That's where Britain truly excelled in those years.

A proper Frankfurt banker's garage comprised a Diplo and a Rangey.

[Sir Snipes]

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

^^ Now, if that were wearing Opel badges................

[SiC]

One of the very few post 1990s Vauxhalls that is appreciating in value. That engine apparently made a much better match up in performance and reliability in that chassis than the k-series.

[martc]

Re selling Vauxhalls as Opels, slightly unrelated but, I was surprised to see that Toyota still run a network of Toyopet dealers in Japan. I'll stand corrected, but I think the last Toyota branded as a Toyopet was made in the 1950's. 

 

Maybe PSA will re-launch Vauxhall dealers as Rootes. Incidently, according to Wiki, the last garage to include the name Rootes was Rootes Maidstone which changed it's name to Robins & Day Maidstone in 2007. Robins & Day is wholly owned and operated by Peugeot UK.

[chodweaver]

The market changed too - just as working for a bank stopped being a job for life, so it was no longer a given that a white collar worker would aspire to, and achieve ownership of the biggest and best a manufacturer had on offer before he retired. Comfort, equipment, power and style had to move down the range. The big players in Britain at the time had to accept that they were not going to continue to sell the volumes of Scorpios et al as they had Granadas et al, certainly not enough to profit from them. There was a sense that the last Scorpio was going to fail no matter how good looking Ford made it, so they didn't even try. After that, the Mondeo and Vectra had to grow a little to offer the same comfort and the equipment levels available had to rise so they didn't lose everything to Munich and Stuttgart.

Brand loyalty became a thing of the past and a Beemer or better had to accompany the shoulder pads and success in business. One way or another, the UK car manufacturers got it wrong, except for, as JM said, Range Rover.

[chodweaver]

I think after what PSA did to Ryton and their attempt to cash in on the Talbot name, any move to cash in on Rootes heritage will be seen as the cynical manipulation it would be.

[sierraman]

Can't see why you would bring Talbot or Rooted back. It means absolutely nothing to 95% of people.

 

Talbot didn't have a great name before they bowed out anyway.

[Junkman]

It's not going to happen anyway.

If they are planning to capitalise on a 'new' 'brand', it will be Opel. However, I don't really believe it's going to happen at all.

I believe the Opel as well as the Vauxhall brands will slowly but steadily go Talbot's way.

[inconsistant]

Do Vauxhall do motorsport any more? Not aware of any Vauxhall racing since Cleland in the BTCC Cav, but then I don't really follow motor racing much, other than I think Ford have had Focusses in the BTCC for ages?

Not doing motorsport is a great way to be a dowdy un-aspirational brand.

[SierraMikeHotel]

Do Vauxhall do motorsport any more? Not aware of any Vauxhall racing since Cleland in the BTCC Cav, but then I don't really follow motor racing much, other than I think Ford have had Focusses in the BTCC for ages?

Not doing motorsport is a great way to be a dowdy un-aspirational brand.

There's very little manufacturer interest in the BTCC now but Power Maxed TAG Racing are running a couple of Astras.

[Datsuncog]

Not doing motorsport is a great way to be a dowdy un-aspirational brand.

 

 

And yet...

[Ghosty]

I'm sure Lada were running in the BTCC at one point.

 

There are a couple of Astras in the BTCC at the moment, but they're a minority compared to say, Civic Type Rs and Focus RSs.

 

 

Note the inclusion of a team running two MG6s, a solitary Toyota Avensis, and a lone Giulietta...

[MarinaJosh]

Found this interesting... PSA top sellers list for Q1 features a couple of Vauxhall brand products.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SierraMikeHotel]

Thanks Ghosty, broadband still isn't up and running here and I couldn't be gathered to try and hot-link to that on my phone!

 

Seeing the Giulietta is kinda cool but there must be a reason so many teams are choosing Civics. I genuinely couldn't remember if there were any Vauxhalls or not until I looked at that.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 there must be a reason so many teams are choosing Civics. 

 

 

Honda will be backing them to the hilt with cheap parts, shells etc.

 

Vauxhall will be prodding a fax machine wondering why it doesn't work.

[martc]

To those people who thought I was serious about bring back Rootes names - I wasn't. But...these new vans they are going to build at Luton - I'm sure they will carry several brand names so they could shoehorn in the odd Commer or Karrier - for sale to BT or local authorities.*

 

*only joking**

 

**or was I?

[AnthonyG]

Not terribly relevant to this thread maybe but I spotted an immaculate Mk3 Cavalier driving past Sainsbury’s petrol station yesterday. It was on an L registration and looked like a later SRi model from the alloys but I did spot ‘4x4’ badges. Did they do an SRi 4x4? It didn’t look like the Turbo GSi model but maybe the bodykit on those was not as lairy as I remember.

 

Anyway Cavalier fans will be pleased to know it looked to be in good hands.

[Partridge]

Did they do an SRi 4x4?

Yes

[AnthonyG]

A-ha I was correct in my spot then.

 

My only knowledge of the GSi Turbo was the stripped one that sat at the back of Hartwell Sheffield Vauxhall for at least two years.

 

It was a brand new car, some enterprising folk broke into the dealer compound, stripped the wheels/bodykit/badges/grille and the entire interior, and possibly some of the engine bits as well, leaving a rather lighter and now very non-functional Cavalier behind. For some reason the car never got fixed (or even registered), and the remains were still there in October 1997, a good two years after the model had been discontinued.

[HillmanImp]

By the looks of this Ford are having a massive restructure too. Not sure what this means for the UK market..

 

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2018/04/25/ford-cutting-car-lineup-earnings/34244867/

[Junkman]

Not sure what this means for the UK market..

 

 

A manual diesel Mustang SUV.

[binbag]

" The slow death of Ford "

 

If I've read that right , Ford are only going to make 2 cars , the Mustang and the Focus Active .The rest being SUV's and trucks.

 

They would be mad to kill off the Fiesta.