The move to bring Opel to Australia is designed to give parent company General Motors a more premium priced alternative to Holden and tackle the markets dominated by European brands such as Volkswagen, Peugeot, Citroen and Renault.
The brand will arrive early next year with the Corsa (a city hatch once sold here as the Barina), Astra small car and Insignia large car. Down the track other vehicles such as the Meriva and Zafira (the latter previously sold in Australia as a Holden) will flesh out the range.
“Opel represents a new opportunity for GM in Australia with a growing demand for German design and technology at affordable prices,” said Holden chairman and managing director Mike Devereux.
“We look forward to supporting our sister brand to establish itself as a strong competitor in the growing premium segment.”
Australia will be one of “five or six” countries Opel will begin exporting cars to outside Europe in an effort to cement itself as a global brand.
“It’s an important brand statement for Opel,” said Opel CEO Nick Reilly, who said there was a significant sum allocated to establishing the brand locally.
“Australia is one of the most important new opportunities for Opel as we continue to reposition Opel as a global European brand in markets like the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and South America.
“Our German engineering heritage, award-winning design and sporty and efficient performance will help position Opel as a premium alternative in new international markets like Australia.”
While the brand means nothing to most Australians, the there are tens of thousands of Astra small cars on the roads – but they wear Holden badges and were sold at a more affordable price than the ones that will arrive wearing an Opel badge.
Holden once had a range of European-designed and engineered vehicles, something that’s since made way for more affordable cars sourced from Korea.
Holden says Astras were never profitable because they were European sourced vehicles competing with more affordable predominantly Japanese-sourced competitors. However, Ford currently has a range of European engineered cars competing with Asian competition.
As with brands such as Volkswagen, Peugeot, Renault and Citroen, prices for the Opel range will be more expensive in an effort to improve profitability and separate it from the Holden vehicles it could in some ways cannibalise.
The challenge for Opel will be to convince buyers its cars are worth a premium over European engineered Fords such as the Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo, which are direct competitors for the Corsa, Astra and Insignia in Europe.
The imminent move to sell Opel in Australia was leaked last year and was later opposed by some within Holden due to the possibility of cannibalising Holden sales, including cars made in Australia such as the Commodore and Cruze (to be built here from March).
In Europe Opel is the equivalent of Holden in Australia or Chevrolet in the US.
But just as Volkswagen has done an excellent job of positioning its brand above more mainstream players – charging a premium price on the way through – Opel is planning to appeal to a different market than Holden.
“The cross shopping in Europe between Opel and Chevrolet is almost non-existent,” says Reilly. “We expect [Opel] to have a very different positioning [in Australia].
Once known for its European small cars, Holden was struggling to make money so opted to import cheaper vehicles from countries such as Korea.
Reilly ruled out higher performance Opel OPC models being sold as HSVs (Holden’s performance partner) but says they could be sold in their own right, much as Volkswagen has the R brand and GTI for performance variants.
Opel will set up a unique dealer network – probably including some Holden dealers – managed from Holden’s Port Melbourne head offices by a separate management team.
As with previous Opel-sourced models, the brand plans to leverage Holden’s local engineering ability to tailor steering, suspension, throttle response and other attributes to Australian tastes.
“That’s another place we have an advantage [over other European brands],” says Devereux. “There’s definitely room for GM to have two intelligently positioned brands [in Australia].”
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