The slow death of Vauxhall?

[lesapandre]

And vans sell if you make erm right.

[chodweaver]

I don't want to see Vauxhall disappear without trace (I survived for many years on Vauxhall company cars, and they were all great, even the ones I crashed, repeatedly) but you can't argue with the market. Or the owner. If Vauxhall is underperforming in the market place, an owner may try investing a bit more, but in a bear market that's unlikely - PSA will now be using Vauxhall's demise to strengthen the position of other PSA products in the market and salvage what it can, at minimal cost. I cannot really blame PSA for being opportunist. They're in business. GM however - I reserve some very special words to describe them, for banishing the world of Saab and Vauxhall. You'd better hope we don't meet.

 

As for the sales teams, they won't be sitting around for 2 years waiting for the end to come, nor will they be making much of an effort to sell anything in the interim (except themselves, to their next employer) as PSA won't be putting any money on the table in the form of bonus schemes or commission.

 

Expect Vauxhall sales to drop through the floor (if they have any remaining atm) and the dealers to go their various ways - down or sideways. The brand may live on in the van market. And in our heads. For me, it will be with a fondness.

[dieselnutjob]

I recently got shouted at by a relative who lives in the Wirral for suggesting that not absolutely everything that's f#$&*d up in this country is down to the Conservative party, given that Labour were in power for a very long time before and that politics and economics has (like most things) a fair bit of inertia in it.

 

The thing that she seemed to be most angry about was that if/when Ellesmere Port closes that her area of the country is totally $#~£d (according to her) and that it's all the Conservatives fault.

 

What I didn't say to her (cos I thought of it later) is that actually it's her fault.  She has bought two new cars in recent years and both have been Skodas.  Why not a locally made Vauxhall if that's what she cares about so much?

 

I recently saw a youtube video from AutoExpert about the demise of Australian car makers basically saying the same thing, i.e. don't winge about it if you didn't buy the cars.

 

That said, parts and platform sharing is working well for some brands (the best example being VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda).  Wouldn't it be great if component sharing across PSA and Opel made both of them more viable businesses?

 

PSA may be a good buyer for Opel because my understanding is that GM were not willing to allow any Opel buyer to have any IPR (I guess patents, crash test data etc etc) with the car making piece.  I guess that they were frightened of the Chinese buying Opel and then using the IPR to attack GM in USA (as they sort of did with MG Rover). All of the IPR has to stay with GM in America.  I guess that PSA don't need this IPR as they have their own and can put their technology into a Vauxhall shell and still have a viable product.

[lesapandre]

The same was said about Saab. Except some commentator said those who regretted the demise of Saab were enthusiasts, not buyers of new cars - they had Saabs but very few of them bought new ones straight out of the showrooms.

[lesapandre]

That also looked to be Jaguar's fate for a time - plenty of people loving the classics but not so many in the showrooms. At least Tata stopped that blather about heritage and the Jag' shape

[lesapandre]

Its all about what the punter wants/needs to drive about in now. That it's made by a company that once won a car race before their dad was born etc is irrelevant.

[lesapandre]

Thought thats not to say heritage is completely unimportant...Vauxhall at the moment...its an illustration from The Restoration of Vintage and Throughbred Cars by Wheatley and Morgan.

[HillmanImp]

If Vauxhall goes tits up, what are poor people going to drive in the future? Driveways on council estates the length and breadth of Britain will be empty. The car parks outside Iceland will be reclaimed by nature. Children will never see the world outside of their own street.

 

The impact of this goes further than we think.

[lesapandre]

Yup. I blame it all on Globalchavving.

[lesapandre]

Anyway Iceland will have melted by then.

[martc]

Our local plod, well known for running Protons, is replacing them with Vauxhalls and Peugeots. Another trend set?

 

The other forces replacing Vauxhalls with Hyundais is just so yesterday.

[Datsuncog]

Not bad we thought. So we did a bit of lunchtime looking on the internet...

 

And found out that the one in his trim was nearly £19k! That's standard everything and the android auto box ticked. Fuck all else. We then found the VW Up! Gti which had alot more kit as standard, with their version of androud auto was almost 16k... We didn't like the Adam anymore, it feels OK, but not £20k of OK. What fucked up world is a VW ever any cheaper than a Vauxhall.

 

Isn't that part of the issue - that no-one much looks at the overall sticker price of cars?

 

I'm gobsmacked to learn an Adam costs that much, cash-down. I would have hazarded a guess of around £12-14k for something like that. But it's not something that appears on adverts anymore - it's all just "£199 a month", then punt it back and get another on the same lease basis - less a penalty for excess mileage/not sticking religiously to main dealer servicing schedules/fitting non-premium tyres.

 

Is it perhaps fairer to say that most successful car manufacturers, PSA included, are becoming primarily financial services companies that happen to manufacture their own products? The arse fell out of the big-fleet company car market two decades ago, so volume sales don't really happen in the same way anymore. But the persistent myth of consumer hyper-personalisation has led to companies offering two dozen models in their line up on swapsie platforms and engines, rather than four core models (think Nova, Astra, Cavalier, Carlton/Senator).

 

Since few cars are jaw-droppingly bad out of the showroom anymore, the business model for many seems to be designing something that'll last a three year lease at an attractive monthly rate, then rapidly and expensively expire in the hands of its second or third owner.

 

The balancing act is in ensuring that residuals are just enough at the end of the lease period to turn a profit (so their reputation in the trade can't be too dismal), while still maintaining a reasonable demand for secondhand cars by ensuring they don't hang around for too long after that.

 

Rust used to do this job for the makers - now it seems to be electronics and sensor issues that see them prematurely cubed.

 

I really like 60s and 70s Vauxhalls (Victors, Vivas and Crestas - yes please), but they're not a manufacturer I've ever seriously considered for a more modern car. But possibly that's also because the only main dealer to me is a longstanding crèche for idiots who inexplicably work there.

[Guest Hooli]

The only serial vauxhall owner I know is my moron manager who care barely manage his own bowel movements, if that's the type of buyer their after I'm not surprised sales are dropping.

[lesapandre]

Unlike his pants by the sound of it...

[beko1987]

 

 

I'm gobsmacked to learn an Adam costs that much, cash-down.

So were we! We thought it was a cheap-ish ideal station shitter (for modern people) but not for that

 

HOWEVER, it seems we have forgotten about the new Viva, which Gareth has apparently spent the last 20 minutes investigating whilst I sorted out a finance issue with work... A fairly basic Viva with the android auto screen nailed to the dash is £12.4k, a VW Up (non GTI) which has the fancy stereo as standard is £150 more... The viva looks like a cheapened corsa though, the Adam (in the black that Gareth had his at) is much nicer if you ignore the back 1/3 of it)

 

Again, I'm the last person who would want a VW over ANYTHING else ever, but I'd get an Up if I was in the market for swapping my comfy french barge for a modern bone shaker

[Datsuncog]

^^^ You make a convincing argument.. . but if a Vauxhall Viva doesn't look like this, I don't want it.

 

 

True though, I think the Adam looks alright but it is competing with Binis and 500s as 'quirky' retroistic premium supermini, with a target market of posh girls at sixth-form college...

 

...who won't want it because it's a Vauxhall, and Daddy says Vauxhalls are for plebs.

 

If I were PSA, I'd rebrand the premium motors (like the Adam and Insignia) as Opels, and leave the Vauxhall badge for the giffertastic cheapo markets, much as Rover Group did with the Austin marque while making rebadged Hondas into Rovers.

 

Because as everyone knows, that story ended really well.

[Bradders59]

Is this not just Peugeot running them into the ground? Seems like it,  now that they own Vauxhall. 

 

That's exactly what it is. It was obvious it would happen when they bought the brand. They will have the option of UK factories to assemble their French shite, if the Brexit deal results. Even if it doesnt, they will have a workforce to assemble the shite who don't work like the BL workforce did in the 70,s. i.e. not French

I am a lifelong Vauxhall man, as was my Dad before me. First car was a Viva HB, a Chevette HS followed not long after that, and god knows how many more over the years.

My favourite (apart from the  HS, which was a young mans car )was the 24v Senator, which has been followed by several  Omegas. My current 3.2 Elite Omega (02 )is a great car, but there is no Vauxhall built after that, that I would be remotely interested in buying.

They have been slowly running the brand into the ground for the last 15 years.

Its probably a matter of a few more years before Peugeot kill it off altogether.

Almost all main dealers, regardless of brand are utter shite. Jaguar are possibly the worst, and Vauxhall are no better or worse than most of the others.

[lesapandre]

To relaunch the Opel brand in the UK and get it up to speed would be pricey and take time. In the meantime what would you do with the Vauxhall name...sales would fall off a cliff if it was to become an orphan name shortly.

[sam simmons]

I looked at the new Viva when on the hunt for a new car for the wife to potter around in and found it decent enough for what she wants but was over £12k with discounts but visiting our local Toyota dealers gave us a deal of a new Aygo x-cite (leather,ipad thingy,alloys,climate,5 yr warranty) for bang on £10k after a £3k discount and 0% finance which she was happier with...

 

She works and pays for it so what do i care but it feels better than the Viva to sit in and drive,in fact quite good fun along our country lanes

[lesapandre]

I looked at the new Viva when on the hunt for a new car for the wife to potter around in and found it decent enough for what she wants but was over £12k with discounts but visiting our local Toyota dealers gave us a deal of a new Aygo x-cite (leather,ipad thingy,alloys,climate,5 yr warranty) for bang on £10k after a £3k discount and 0% finance which she was happier with...

 

She works and pays for it so what do i care but it feels better than the Viva to sit in and drive,in fact quite good fun along our country lanes

Sums it up really. 

[Ghosty]

The Viva is just a GM Korea shitbox isn't it?

 

Council estate cars are Kias and Hyundais now.

 

Sent from my Moto G (5S) using Tapatalk

[lesapandre]

The Viva is just a GM Korea shitbox isn't it?

 

Council estate cars are Kias and Hyundais now.

 

Sent from my Moto G (5S) using Tapatalk

Interesting that PSA has got saddled with some oddball cars. All very reminiscent of the end of Chrysler in Europe and their purchase by PSA in 79. Won't last long in the marketplace so avoiding a Viva is probably a good thing.

[dieselnutjob]

Rust used to do this job for the makers - now it seems to be electronics and sensor issues that see them prematurely cubed.

 

Plastic timing chain tensioners.

Plastic intake flaps.

EGR valves and DPFs.

Vauxhall six speed gearboxes.

[lesapandre]

But these 'mergers' are as old as the industry- this is probably one of the most infamous....

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker-Packard_Corporation

[SierraMikeHotel]

I recently got shouted at by a relative who lives in the Wirral for suggesting that not absolutely everything that's f#$&*d up in this country is down to the Conservative party, given that Labour were in power for a very long time before and that politics and economics has (like most things) a fair bit of inertia in it.

 

The thing that she seemed to be most angry about was that if/when Ellesmere Port closes that her area of the country is totally $#~£d (according to her) and that it's all the Conservatives fault.

Your relative's politics game is strong. It's both easy and fun to blame the Conservatives for everything (and usually true) but even I'm struggling to see this. It's just been a poorly-run business, no? I think there should be an industrial strategy but it's not up to government to tell businesses how they should run themselves.

 

Without wanting to join in with the Vauxhall-bashing, the current range just seems a bit average. It's like Tesco. I live in a town that has an Aldi (cheaper and very nearly as good) and a Waitrose (nicer and not much more expensive) so why would I ever go to Tesco?

 

It's always sad to see companies doing poorly, it's a shame they didn't see this coming and find a real USP. VAG have done a really good job of this and GM then PSA really haven't.

[sloth]

last great vauxhall was the nova. 

 

 

holden are fucked by all this as the new commodore is an insignia and psa have told holden theyre gonna be gone in 5 years.

[Cleon-Fonte]

195,000 Vauxhall sales in total last year - pretty small - Toyota alone sold over 100,000 cars into the UK market in 2017 and 33,000 so far this year - and that is in just one market.

 

But Vauxhall only sell cars in one market, so all your figures show is that Vauxhall outsold Toyota nearly two to one. Hardly a disastrous showing, is it?

 

I've just started driving a few Corsas of various generations for a living (yes, my life has sunk to such depths) and there's really nothing bad about them at all, I fail to see how the regular slagging off they receive is justified. Of course, there's nothing particularly good about them either, nor are they particularly comfortable. But does that make them any different from the VW opposition? Emphatically no, it seems the only aspect in which a VW is 'better' (and from which they derive their much vaunted 'aspirational' appeal) is the use of some squidgy plastics in the interior. Is that really enough to justify the premium they charge?

 

Essentially Vauxhall's downfall rests purely on superficial marketing strategy, there's little wrong with the cars themselves compared to their equally mediocre contemporaries.

[egg]

http://autoshite.com/topic/30553-the-new-news-24-thread/?p=1386201

 

I wrote a little review about my rental Insignia on the news thread, as per link. I was too harsh, it was a perfectly good car.

[rantingYoof]

I have not much of any value to add to this other than to recall my amusement at how irritated Supernaut became the last time he was down this way and we spotted seven Mokkas (four of them white) on a five minute car journey.

 

 

 

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[Bren]

Nothing in the peugeot range appeals - they are even worse than Vauxhall in this respect.

 

People aspire to audi a1 and BMW 1 series not corsas. Even the fiesta is a much better car.

 

People like myself do not help matters - never bought a brand new car and never will.