[srishiva]

public sab samajthi hai....
Kudos to the Indian public who can recognize good, trouble free and efficient products. NHC is 30 HP less than Fit sold in the U.S which is not a bad thing for a Indian model.

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by owaiskm

I read this in an Automotive forum: GM is very clear that is will not customize the Opel as per Indian Conditions and that is the reason GM is not concentrating on Opel. GM's main target is have a good foot hold in India for chevrolet.

Let me translate that from Marketing to English:

We will not sell Opel because sourcing them from Europe makes them costly & hard to sell. Not to mention they are not suited to Indian conditions without extensive mods. We will sell Daewoo products rebadged as Chevrolet cause they are cheap to produce & we make more money on them.

[Equus]

Originally Posted by iraghava

Let me translate that from Marketing to English:

We will not sell Opel because sourcing them from Europe makes them costly & hard to sell. Not to mention they are not suited to Indian conditions without extensive mods. We will sell Daewoo products rebadged as Chevrolet cause they are cheap to produce & we make more money on them.

Sucks.. Everything was great for the Forrester except the Chevy badge :(

[devarshi84]

heh. Foreseter was a subaru over and over except the badge. Only GM didnt know how to sell it.


If the plans for GM workout as said in the article I wonder which Opel models will they bring in this time around?

[nikhil3456]

Originally Posted by devarshi84

GM should launch a new car above optra to compete with octavia and mondeo and accord.

Your wish just MIGHT be granted soon!

According to the media, GM has plans to launch Chevy Epica (also sold as Daewoo Tosca) and Chevy Captiva SUV (most probably with its current CRDI engine) by next year.. Have a look at the images of Captiva in google images.. I feel it might give the CRV a run for its money..
Im am not giving any inside info on this. Some websites have already caught hold of this story and I am just circulating it.

GM to drive Epica on Indian roads-India Business-NEWS-The Times of India

[theMAG]

GM is reported to be contemplating reintroducing the Opel brand in India for the premium sedan segments

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by devarshi84

GM should launch a new car above optra to compete with octavia and mondeo and accord.

did you say mondeo in the same breath with the accord & octavia ?? where is the mondeo ??? i cant see it anywhere man. it is like the vectra, a good car but cant be seen, thats all. personally, i love the vectra, why didn't people who buy the octavia & sonata go for this car?

yes, in india, quantity matters more than quality

[rahul_intlad]

Because opel did not have such a good run in India,I think Gm should look at some other brand names instead .Cadillac maybe.

[volkman10]

GM seen a step away from giving up Opel!

One industry observer believed GM CEO Dan Akerson was following the advice of ex-GE boss and management guru Jack Welch, who once said that if a company didn't measure up, the only options were to "fix it, sell it, or close it.

http://www.autonews.com/article/2012...#ixzz20mAYzN8h

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by volkman10

GM seen a step away from giving up Opel!
http://www.autonews.com/article/2012...#ixzz20mAYzN8h

Ahaa! Good chance. Come on Mahindra, you couldnt get the SAAB, get the Germans atleast. Opel could well be a worthy buy for Mahindra's. Given our management skills, I am sure, Mahindra can turn it around. I dont think Tata's will bid for it even if it comes for sale. And the last wish of mine is that it doesnt go into the hands of some chinese, only to make legal copies of the Germans.

[Zed]

Unlike the JLR story where ford had invested a fair bit into product development before handing JLR over to the Tata's - GM has been going around in circles, or so it seems, with opel. There are one or two good products in their portfolio from a European perspective but I see little synergy with M&M's product portfolio and expansion plans.

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by Zed

Unlike the JLR story where ford had invested a fair bit into product development before handing JLR over to the Tata's - GM has been going around in circles, or so it seems, with opel. There are one or two good products in their portfolio from a European perspective but I see little synergy with M&M's product portfolio and expansion plans.

Yes you are correct, but my point was not to adapt the company rather, let them adopt our way of working. It will surely give Mahindra's a good insight into European manufacturing and better than some korean production lines. As you said, finally it all comes down to the question, whether investing so many billions just to gain that know-how or will it bring some money back? But Since you are here, I bet you know that German public likes Opel a lot more than Ford and would be happy to see Opel live and make good cars. It would good if Mahindra's buy them and let them work their way Tata's have done with JLR.

[Zed]

I see your point - but Tata had a great starting point in that there were 'ready to launch' models at both Landrover and Jaguar that came along with the acquisition. Without these even the best of management practices would not have revived JLR this quickly and to this degree. Opel does not have any path breaking models lined up - and has a ton of organizational issues, well beyond M&Ms area of expertise to manage. It is not outside the realm of possibility that a new owner could turn things around but it will be a mammoth task. And the current financial situation in Europe is certainly not going to help.

[AlphaKilo]

Zed, don't you think their Insignia, Ampera(car of the year 2012), Meriva(successful van), zaffira(most sold after VW Touran/sharan are worthy places to start with. Most important, their Ampera could give any manufacturer a huge lead in terms of Electric/hybrids/alternate propulsion. As you rightly pointed out, GM made sure that the new buyer will have a tough time in bringing this company back to health and to sort out the organisational issues. But looking at the way GM has treated Opel so far, there is no guarantee that they will sell it this time either, if so they could done it long back to the German constorium.

Look at this: Their new ADAM

http://www.opel.de/microsite/adam/#/home

[vinjosep]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

Zed, don't you think their Insignia, Ampera(car of the year 2012), Meriva(successful van), zaffira(most sold after VW Touran/sharan are worthy places to start with. Most important, their Ampera could give any manufacturer a huge lead in terms of Electric/hybrids/alternate propulsion.

Agree with you that some of the new products from Opel are seriously drool material. Having experienced a few of them first hand, i'm impressed (my German license was taken on a new age Opel Astra ).

Having said that, an insider info I got was that most of the important IP etc was transferrred back to GM after they bought the brand. So it does not look promising for a prospective buyer, does it? Also the same source told me that the reason why Opel wasn't doing good was because they were not being given a free hand like JLR (kudos to Tata on this front). So the local junta is not so happy working there.

By the way, Insignia is a hell of a car and can give any other car in the segment a a run for its money! And very few can match the practicality of Zafira and none in terms of the price tag.

Within Germany Opel and VW are the favs for their cheap-to-maintain image. Vw scores higher in terms of reliability though.