Discount on a new vauxhall

jase1

Ellesmere Port is in a similar position to where the old Hillman factory in Ryton was a number of years ago, and that didn't end well.

One model, building a percentage of that model. Ripe for closure, particularly given the strength of German unions.

GolfBravo

Today's Automotive News Europe article:

GM to shift more production to low-cost countries, report says

FRANKFURT -- General Motors Co. may expand production capacity in low-cost countries while closing its Bochum plant in Germany and Ellesmere Port site in the United Kingdom, a German magazine said, citing an internal strategy document.

If vehicle sales rise, GM would build the additional cars in countries such as Poland, Russia, China, India, Mexico and Brazil, Der Spiegel said on Sunday, quoting the document, entitled "Global Assembly Footprint."

As output increases, GM plans to assemble 80 percent of the additional units in low-cost countries, the magazine said in a preview of the article.

According to the document, which the magazine said was presented at a global GM business conference, GM plans to export an additional 300,000 vehicles to the European market from plants in Mexico, Korea and China by 2016.

Article link

jase1

GM have another compact car producing wing with similar capacity to Opel -- Daewoo.

Not only will the temptation be there to manufacture in these huge, bang up to date factories and import into Europe ahead of Opel, the fact is that GMD have the capacity to design the cars as well. They're not simply a "low cost" base any more.

Already a couple of "Vauxhalls" are actually rebadged Daewoos (how's that for irony) -- I expect this trend to continue. They are more than capable of matching Opel quality out there and it makes sense to rationalise.

I would expect the smaller cars -- Corsa and Astra, and MPV variants thereof -- to be rationalised with the Daewoo/Chevrolet range in the medium term. Larger ones, maybe not for a while yet.

Once you have the platform, small cars are such now that any claim of 'superior' interiors just doesn't apply any more -- European and Japanese small cars have reduced interior quality whilst the Koreans have improved there, to the point where there really isn't any appreciable difference.

They're already using the same platforms -- just stiffen up the suspension on the 'Vauxhall' variants and stick a badge on the nose -- there you go, one 'Corsa' or 'Astra' that in reality is an Aveo or Cruze. Already happened in Australia.

prowla

vax2002 wrote: »

The reputation they have earned for Engine management faults has given them one of the highest depreciation losses of most of the general car makers.

I had a Vectra a few years back, and repeatedly had engine management faults.

The car itself was good, but the engine management kept breaking, and a new sensor was over £100 a time.

Also, I had it serviced regularly but the timing belt broke and did the usual damage to the head, so either the garage didn't do the work or the part was faulty. (They're out of business now.)

jase1

prowla wrote: »

Also, I had it serviced regularly but the timing belt broke and did the usual damage to the head, so either the garage didn't do the work or the part was faulty. (They're out of business now.)

The usual GF50 tensioner problem that plagued GM 16V engines of the mid 90s to early 2000s. Not good engines.

If Rover had put out that design people would still be using it as a stick to beat the company now. For some reason Vauxhall got away with it.

GolfBravo

jase1 wrote: »

The usual GF50 tensioner problem that plagued GM 16V engines of the mid 90s to early 2000s. Not good engines.

If Rover had put out that design people would still be using it as a stick to beat the company now. For some reason Vauxhall got away with it.

Ah, the good old GM tensioner. All thanks to GM's Worldwide Purchasing department. Opels/Vauxhalls are actually very well engineered cars - their Ruesselsheim Opel Ineternational Technical Development employs just over 4000 top engineers. But then when a new model or car components are ready for production their Worldwide Purchasing gets involved - GM use them for everything, from stationery to turbochargers - and buy every single part as cheaply as possible. ITDC engineers work with suppliers for years trying to develop the best possible part, and then WP says to the supplier "F/U, we're going to buy this part from China/Mexico/Thailand/Korea instead. According to our spreadsheet they are €0.002 cheaper". They've done it with the tensioners, brakes, suspension arms, etc. You name it.

Oh, and BTW, the next Opel/Vauxhall Corsa is being developed by GMDAT in Korea - Opel have less than 5% engineering input in that new platform. So I guess it is all now downhill for VX.

jase1

The minute they substitute a good part for a bad one the claim of being "very well engineered cars" goes out the window. It just becomes a jumbled assembly of aftermarket crap -- not a million miles from my experience with Vauxhalls to be honest.

As for going 'downhill' now GMD are involved, I'm not so sure. Korean manufacturing is very tight -- components tend to be designed, built and sold internally within the companies (similar to the way the Japanese used to be). It'll be harder for Detroit to bean-count with this corporate culture.

GolfBravo

jase1 wrote: »

The minute they substitute a good part for a bad one the claim of being "very well engineered cars" goes out the window. It just becomes a jumbled assembly of aftermarket crap -- not a million miles from my experience with Vauxhalls to be honest.

Well, GM WP's favourite quote "hey, we've just sourced this part from China - it's exactly the same , but cheaper! " They don't care where the parts come from, as long as the spreadsheet looks good. These days most cars are jumbled assembly of aftermarket crap anyway.

jase1 wrote: »

As for going 'downhill' now GMD are involved, I'm not so sure. Korean manufacturing is very tight -- components tend to be designed, built and sold internally within the companies (similar to the way the Japanese used to be). It'll be harder for Detroit to bean-count with this corporate culture.

True with Kia/Hyundai. Daewoo on the other hand was all sold off to different companies when they went bankrupt - GM bought only the engineering and manufacturing. Now they source parts from all over the place, a lot of them come from Thailand (S. Korea is just too expensive).