The Opel Corsa flopped in Germany

The Opel Corsa sales in Germany was shattered in 2010 compared to 2009:

2009: 381,687 units
2010: 269,061 units

That's a decrease of 30 per cent!

Opel is a head ache for GM

2011 turned out to be a good year for GM, when you disregard their European subsidiary Adam Opel AG. Here's a few words from The Detroit News:

GM's gains in emerging markets, however, have been dampened by its troubles in Europe, where its losses deepened last year.

"Their biggest problem child is undoubtedly Europe," said Mike Robinet, an analyst with IHS Automotive in Northville.

Opel expects to lose another 500 millioner euro in 2011

GM's subsidiary, Adam Opel AG, expects to live up to it's money-losing reputation also in 2011. According to news reports, Opel's CEO Nick Reilly, is aiming at a loss of 500 million euro for 2011.

Now that GM once again is owned to a large part by private investors, how long will they sit by and watch their money wash away?

The Opel Corsa has a problem with the brakes

According to Autobild, the Opel Corsa has a problem with the brakes:

The Opel Corsa D model years 2007 to 2009, has a problem that could lead to the brakes being engaged permanently and the brake rotors overheat. The cause is a plastic bearing in the pedal rack that deforms when the foot well is heated by the car's heating and ventilation system, and this prevents the brake pedal from returning to the starting position. The fault is not safety related, claims Opel spokesman Manfred Daun.

If my brakes overheat, I would call it a safety problem!

Dump Opel and be rich

The Truth About Cars writes that without Opel, GM would be rich:

Opel is up to its eyeballs in losses.

[...]

With 8,000 jobs to go and to be paid off, there will be monstrous losses in 2011. Who knows what will happen in 2012.

If it wouldn’t be for Opel, GM would be in  hog heaven. Back home, GM makes money. In China, GM sells more cars than ever.  Everything divvy in South America  and the rest of the world.  [...] Buyers of stock are looking at future performance, and the cash drain of Opel will have a serious effect on the take from the IPO.

One of the suitors from last year, Thomas Stallkamp of Ripplewood Holding, had the following to say about Opel's current situation:

If you dig into the numbers, they still have a problem in Europe. They are doing worse than when we looked at them two years ago, and it’s going to take a lot of cash to fix Opel. That’s my concern on the IPO.

So GM has two alternatives: Keep pumping money into the big black Opel hole, or get rid of Opel and be rich!

Opel's dream is just a dream

Opel has a dream. A dream to expand the brand to new markets. But just how realistic is this dream? Stern gives us some answers:

Now Opel wants to expand to China from 2011, and then to Israel, South Africa, Australia, Chile, Argentina and the Middle East.

So Opel is relying on new markets to increase the sales. Markets like Russia and China. But on these markets GM already has strong brands:

For years, GM has stopped Opel from investing outside Europe and instead made the Chevrolet and Buick brands strong in China, Russia or Brazil.

So the big question is; Why would GM now let Opel invest in these new markets at the expense of the other GM brands?

"If we go to Asia and especially China, it will happen at the expense of Chevrolet. So just how much freedom to act will GM give us?" asks a concerned management source.

And so the dream was just a dream....

Exit Opel, enter Chevrolet?

Last week it became known that GM is replacing the Daewoo brand with Chevrolet in Asia. A couple of years ago GM did the same with Daewoo in Europe. Soon Daewoo will be history as a brand. The brand that replaces Daewoo, Chevrolet, is GM biggest brand by far, with 4,5 million cars sold in 2010. So how much more bad news from Europe and Opel is GM willing to take before they also replace the Opel name with Chevrolet? Remember that with the Opel Ampera GM will introduce a Chevy in Opel's line up. And this car is more or less the future of GM/Opel.

One thing is for sure, Opel as a brand name is tainted. What does Opel stand for anyway? Bad design? Bad quality? Rust? Old man's car? Take your pick. What is clear is that there aren't much positive vibes connected to the Opel name any more