VECTRA such a big failure.!!! why ????

ac 427 · 27th November 2005, 01:53

Hello guys,

This thing has been haunting me for quite a while, why does the opel vectra NOT SELL ?? it looks like a better vehilce than the accord / camry, but still its not doing well.

all opel vehicles have done well astra / corsa but d vectra has bombed , ny specific reason ????

cheatingdeath · 27th November 2005, 02:02

vectra firstly loses out on in its opel tag... against bigger names like toyota and honda... hyundai doing unexpectedly well with its sonata by offering goodies and looks that vectra doesnt.....

vectra is i guess a 2.2cc engine while other cars are 2.4 and above...
fuel efficiency is a major factor ... as past records suggest opel cars give very poor fuel efficiency..
the gizmos in the car are fantastic...but al little complicated

for what it offers at its price people can avail more by chipping in a little more and get a honda or a toyota badge

now that general motors owns opel things may get better....but the image of opel is seriously affecting the sales

ac 427 · 27th November 2005, 02:53

ur right, its a 2.2 ltr petrol and deisel unit, but d petrol one gets around 140 horses. . . whics quite impressive and opels have been alwys buidling safer, better vehilces eg: astra and corsa, but i guess theres somethign wrong with the vechile.

sbasak · 27th November 2005, 04:13

Do they still sell Vectra? Opel India's website www.opel.co.in shows only Sail & Corsa!
What's the price of Vectra anyway?

devarshi84 · 27th November 2005, 05:45

opel as a brand is equally powerful as a honda or a toyota. vectra is better car than the competition.

what went wrong was

1. price at 16.00 is more expensive than the competition.

2. Japanese cars are more FE which drives the car sales in India.

Vectra has been discontinued but still makes a great buy if you can get your hands on one.

turbo_lover · 27th November 2005, 06:39

hey opel makes great cars ...

the vectra is a beautiful car one of my favourites on indian roads ...the car has superb build quality and handles like a dream...2.2 litre engine is very well refined ...i'd love to have one even now ...

as far as FE is concerned it is at par if not better with the 2.4 accord .. the average FE was around 7-8 kmpl ...Opels pricing like the corsa was not at all competitive like the car ,initially it was priced at 17-18L when GM entered the indian market it phased out the Astra lowered the prices of Vectra and the Corsa ..Vectra was then priced at 14.6L.. but accord ,corolla and skoda were already established by then ..it sold in very small numbers...
during my last conversation with the GM technical manager i learnt that the Vectra was being temporarily discontinued due to a malignant fuel pump problem ..he did say however that a revamped vectra will be on its way shortly as GM doesnt really have a Luxury sedan out yet ...

i hope they bring out the vectra soon ..
in europe it is available in the 2.2L and the 3.5? V6 220 +bhp (GTS) ...i dbout there is a deisel variant available...

cheers

amit · 27th November 2005, 08:30

Lots of reasons:
1. Opel had no idea how to sell the Vectra. Europeans have failed to understand the Indian car buyer's pysche. Hormazd Sorabjee sumed it up in his editorial really well when he said Although European cars are the best in their segments (he was referring to Palio and Corsa sedan) they aren't necessarily what the Indian car buyer wants. Europeans give cars that they think people want, the Japs and Koreans give cars that people actually want and thats why they are successfull. To start of with, Opel got the pricing and features all wrong. When launched the car was pricier then Accord and Sonata and didn't even offer leather or power seats. Vectra maybe a family mid-size car in Europe but it's a luxury car in India. How dumb can the Europeans/Americans get.
2. Opel thought the premium pricing was okay as long as they harped on German engineering. It probably would have worked had they given Astra owners a good ownership expereince. Problem is in India German engineering equals low fuel efficiency and Japanese engineering equals high fuel efficiency. And we all know what feature can make or break a model in our country. Having said that, I don't think Vectra's FE was any worse then Accord or Camry's. Ideally Opel should have launched the Vectra 5 years after Astra so that Astra owners had something within the Opel range to upgrade to. They missed out on this simple formula too and most Astra owners bought Accords or Sonatas.
3. What is the use of giving a technologically heavy car at that price point? The Vectra was always going to be chauffer driven. This is not Europe. Does it make sense to have the owner sitting in the back seat with all the techno stuff within arms reach of a chauffer who must be secretly giving gallis to his boss for buying such a difficult car!
4. The bug bear of European cars failed it - Ownership expereince. I don't know if it's a cultural thing but Europeans have no idea of customer service. It's very impersonal and distant. The Japs, koreans and even Indians do a better job. This style of customer service isn't working even in Europe , how the hell do they think it can work in India? Mind you impersonal service doesn't mean bad service but Indians generally prefer to have personalised attention. Thing is you can give personalised attention to an Indian, then screw up on his job and still get away with it! The guy will still recommend you to his friends and colleagues. The remark will be " go to xyz motors, they are great people, very friendly, even the GM knows me there. Just meet him and give my name and he will look after you."
5. Sales and dealeship. Ultimately, sales team have to make it a point to tell prospective customers about all the techno stuff in the car. Iam pretty sure these guys failed to put across the Vectra's superior build quality, technology, ride & handling ability etc.

islero · 27th November 2005, 09:19

I completley agree Amit. All the Europeans know is to harp about thier engineering, while more sensible manufacturers like Ford, Hyundai etc talk about more relevant stuff to the normal buyer.

I love the looks of the Vectra, especially in black, when it has a damn good presence. But I would have taken the Mondeo anyday, but even that semed to have reliability problems, so the Accord it is for me.

amit · 27th November 2005, 09:44

Quote:

I love the looks of the Vectra, especially in black, when it has a damn good presence.

The Vectra looks super HOT in black! I, personally, love the looks of the Vectra.

adya33 · 27th November 2005, 09:52

gotta agree with amit
I would also like to add to that Vectra was somewhat ahead of its time

If Vectra would have launched after launch of NEW accord it surely would have sold in more numbers

as for Astra owners going for Accord or Sonata, I agree 100% our family did it. GM customer support is Pune was horrible till new showroom on Pune-Mumbai highway was opened.
Although we could get Astra serviced by local mechanic (who previously used to work in GM) there was no way he could have worked with all those Gizmo's of Vecta.
This was one of the reason for going for Accord

as for people complaining OPEL cars having bad FE
during my last two trips to Mumbai Intl. airport I have got FE between 15.5 to 17 this is driving without any restriction, one time full load (boot filled) and AC ON full journey (In city I get regularly 10kmpl)
& to top it all it is from 1.6L, 100,000KM old stock engine with a car which is supposed to be very fuel inefficient & with pathetic power to weight ratio
sorry for being off topic but I never get it why people complain about German cars being bad at FE

dipen · 27th November 2005, 11:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by adya33

as for people complaining OPEL cars having bad FE
during my last two trips to Mumbai Intl. airport I have got FE between 15.5 to 17 this is driving without any restriction, one time full load (boot filled) and AC ON full journey (In city I get regularly 10kmpl)
& to top it all it is from 1.6L, 100,000KM old stock engine with a car which is supposed to be very fuel inefficient & with pathetic power to weight ratio
sorry for being off topic but I never get it why people complain about German cars being bad at FE

Yours is a one off case , never heard of such great figures from any Opel in india.
Even the Sail 1.4 refuses to give anything above 9 in city with ac in normal driving mode.

Sid Schumacher · 27th November 2005, 12:30

I agree with Amit completely. Till date I have seen only one Vectra in B'lore so far, its always standing in Cunninham Rd. The looks of the Vectra rule..esp. in Black and Silver the car looks like a true mean machine. The ride does look pretty low though.

GTO · 27th November 2005, 13:41

This topic has previously been discussed at this link

Please continue your discussion there.

Thanks

GTO

27th November 2005, 01:53	#1
ac 427 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Mumbai Posts: 1,425 Thanked: 464 Times View My Garage	VECTRA such a big failure.!!! why ???? Hello guys, This thing has been haunting me for quite a while, why does the opel vectra NOT SELL ?? it looks like a better vehilce than the accord / camry, but still its not doing well. all opel vehicles have done well astra / corsa but d vectra has bombed , ny specific reason ????
	() Thanks

27th November 2005, 02:02	#2
cheatingdeath BHPian Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 275 Thanked: 10 Times	vectra firstly loses out on in its opel tag... against bigger names like toyota and honda... hyundai doing unexpectedly well with its sonata by offering goodies and looks that vectra doesnt..... vectra is i guess a 2.2cc engine while other cars are 2.4 and above... fuel efficiency is a major factor ... as past records suggest opel cars give very poor fuel efficiency.. the gizmos in the car are fantastic...but al little complicated for what it offers at its price people can avail more by chipping in a little more and get a honda or a toyota badge now that general motors owns opel things may get better....but the image of opel is seriously affecting the sales
	() Thanks

27th November 2005, 02:53	#3
ac 427 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Mumbai Posts: 1,425 Thanked: 464 Times View My Garage	ur right, its a 2.2 ltr petrol and deisel unit, but d petrol one gets around 140 horses. . . whics quite impressive and opels have been alwys buidling safer, better vehilces eg: astra and corsa, but i guess theres somethign wrong with the vechile.
	() Thanks

27th November 2005, 04:13	#4
sbasak BHPian Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: CCU-LTN Posts: 607 Thanked: 16 Times	Do they still sell Vectra? Opel India's website www.opel.co.in shows only Sail & Corsa! What's the price of Vectra anyway?
	() Thanks

27th November 2005, 05:45	#5
devarshi84 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Ahmedabad - Tor Posts: 4,024 Thanked: 213 Times View My Garage	opel as a brand is equally powerful as a honda or a toyota. vectra is better car than the competition. what went wrong was 1. price at 16.00 is more expensive than the competition. 2. Japanese cars are more FE which drives the car sales in India. Vectra has been discontinued but still makes a great buy if you can get your hands on one.
	() Thanks

27th November 2005, 06:39	#6
turbo_lover Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,377 Thanked: 9 Times	hey opel makes great cars ... the vectra is a beautiful car one of my favourites on indian roads ...the car has superb build quality and handles like a dream...2.2 litre engine is very well refined ...i'd love to have one even now ... as far as FE is concerned it is at par if not better with the 2.4 accord .. the average FE was around 7-8 kmpl ...Opels pricing like the corsa was not at all competitive like the car ,initially it was priced at 17-18L when GM entered the indian market it phased out the Astra lowered the prices of Vectra and the Corsa ..Vectra was then priced at 14.6L.. but accord ,corolla and skoda were already established by then ..it sold in very small numbers... during my last conversation with the GM technical manager i learnt that the Vectra was being temporarily discontinued due to a malignant fuel pump problem ..he did say however that a revamped vectra will be on its way shortly as GM doesnt really have a Luxury sedan out yet ... i hope they bring out the vectra soon .. in europe it is available in the 2.2L and the 3.5? V6 220 +bhp (GTS) ...i dbout there is a deisel variant available... cheers Last edited by turbo_lover : 27th November 2005 at 06:41.
	() Thanks

27th November 2005, 08:30	#7
amit Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 3,712 Thanked: 451 Times	Lots of reasons: 1. Opel had no idea how to sell the Vectra. Europeans have failed to understand the Indian car buyer's pysche. Hormazd Sorabjee sumed it up in his editorial really well when he said Although European cars are the best in their segments (he was referring to Palio and Corsa sedan) they aren't necessarily what the Indian car buyer wants. Europeans give cars that they think people want, the Japs and Koreans give cars that people actually want and thats why they are successfull. To start of with, Opel got the pricing and features all wrong. When launched the car was pricier then Accord and Sonata and didn't even offer leather or power seats. Vectra maybe a family mid-size car in Europe but it's a luxury car in India. How dumb can the Europeans/Americans get. 2. Opel thought the premium pricing was okay as long as they harped on German engineering. It probably would have worked had they given Astra owners a good ownership expereince. Problem is in India German engineering equals low fuel efficiency and Japanese engineering equals high fuel efficiency. And we all know what feature can make or break a model in our country. Having said that, I don't think Vectra's FE was any worse then Accord or Camry's. Ideally Opel should have launched the Vectra 5 years after Astra so that Astra owners had something within the Opel range to upgrade to. They missed out on this simple formula too and most Astra owners bought Accords or Sonatas. 3. What is the use of giving a technologically heavy car at that price point? The Vectra was always going to be chauffer driven. This is not Europe. Does it make sense to have the owner sitting in the back seat with all the techno stuff within arms reach of a chauffer who must be secretly giving gallis to his boss for buying such a difficult car! 4. The bug bear of European cars failed it - Ownership expereince. I don't know if it's a cultural thing but Europeans have no idea of customer service. It's very impersonal and distant. The Japs, koreans and even Indians do a better job. This style of customer service isn't working even in Europe , how the hell do they think it can work in India? Mind you impersonal service doesn't mean bad service but Indians generally prefer to have personalised attention. Thing is you can give personalised attention to an Indian, then screw up on his job and still get away with it! The guy will still recommend you to his friends and colleagues. The remark will be " go to xyz motors, they are great people, very friendly, even the GM knows me there. Just meet him and give my name and he will look after you." 5. Sales and dealeship. Ultimately, sales team have to make it a point to tell prospective customers about all the techno stuff in the car. Iam pretty sure these guys failed to put across the Vectra's superior build quality, technology, ride & handling ability etc.
	() Thanks

27th November 2005, 09:19	#8
islero Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chennai Posts: 1,574 Thanked: 13 Times View My Garage	I completley agree Amit. All the Europeans know is to harp about thier engineering, while more sensible manufacturers like Ford, Hyundai etc talk about more relevant stuff to the normal buyer. I love the looks of the Vectra, especially in black, when it has a damn good presence. But I would have taken the Mondeo anyday, but even that semed to have reliability problems, so the Accord it is for me.
	() Thanks

27th November 2005, 09:52	#10
adya33 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 1,834 Thanked: 185 Times	gotta agree with amit I would also like to add to that Vectra was somewhat ahead of its time If Vectra would have launched after launch of NEW accord it surely would have sold in more numbers as for Astra owners going for Accord or Sonata, I agree 100% our family did it. GM customer support is Pune was horrible till new showroom on Pune-Mumbai highway was opened. Although we could get Astra serviced by local mechanic (who previously used to work in GM) there was no way he could have worked with all those Gizmo's of Vecta. This was one of the reason for going for Accord as for people complaining OPEL cars having bad FE during my last two trips to Mumbai Intl. airport I have got FE between 15.5 to 17 this is driving without any restriction, one time full load (boot filled) and AC ON full journey (In city I get regularly 10kmpl) & to top it all it is from 1.6L, 100,000KM old stock engine with a car which is supposed to be very fuel inefficient & with pathetic power to weight ratio sorry for being off topic but I never get it why people complain about German cars being bad at FE
	() Thanks

27th November 2005, 12:30	#12
Sid Schumacher BHPian Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 262 Thanked: 3 Times	I agree with Amit completely. Till date I have seen only one Vectra in B'lore so far, its always standing in Cunninham Rd. The looks of the Vectra rule..esp. in Black and Silver the car looks like a true mean machine. The ride does look pretty low though.
	() Thanks

27th November 2005, 13:41	#13
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 71,818 Thanked: 322,704 Times View My Garage	This topic has previously been discussed at this link Please continue your discussion there. Thanks GTO
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