Chevrolet Opel overlaps heavily

According to reports, the current general manager of the group, Dan Akerson, recently stated that he was very disappointed with the serious product line overlap between the Chevrolet and Opel brands in the European market. This indicates that GM or will make a substantial adjustment to the current brand strategy.

In an interview with the reporter, Akerson said, "I'm thinking about how to adjust. I think the current position of Chevrolet and Opel in Europe is quite vague, and it will also cause internal struggles." In Akerson's view, Chevrolet Opel is a legacy issue. In the past, GM adopted the “multi-brand” strategy, which means that its multiple brands all compete in the same market segment. This will inevitably lead to high R&D expenditures, serious internal losses and low market share for all brands. Ackerson's position has shown that GM is about to take measures against the chaos in the European market.

Although GM spent several years repositioning Opel and Chevrolet on the European market, it has had little success and the two brands still have serious positioning overlap. In accordance with the common vision, Opel will be the main force of GM sales in Europe, and Volkswagen and other European brands compete for more market share, and Chevrolet as a global brand is being built, will be the main entry-level market. Akerson said that GM has come up with a plan to solve the positioning problem of Chevrolet and Opel, but he declined to give more details.

In the first three quarters of this year, Chevrolet sales in Europe fell by 19 percentage points to 112,452 units. As its compact sports utility vehicle Mokka (domestic name Biekon cola) is popular in the market, Opel and Vauxhall sales are slightly better than Chevrolet in the same period, from January to September this year, Opel’s Cumulative sales were 630,453 units, a decrease of 4% year-on-year, which is in line with the overall decline in the European market.

Since 1999, GM’s cumulative loss in the European market has exceeded US$18 billion. GM hopes that by 2015, the European business can end its decade-long loss history and reach a balance of payments.

In recent months, GM executives have stated that they will adjust their branding strategies in the European market, but it is clear that they have understated the issues that exist between Opel and Chevrolet. In response, Thomas Sedran said during the Frankfurt Auto Show this year that "Opel and Chevrolet lacked the necessary communication and cooperation." Saiden served as a consultant in the general reorganization of Bankruptcy, and in This summer took over as president of Chevrolet Europe.