Chevrolet Dumping Europe

[nickm]

Gutted, just found out that Chevrolet are going to pull out of Europe !
So my new Sonic / Aveo will become a worthless piece of junk.

GM, you stick your cars in future and that includes Opel and Vauxhall !

 

[SouthFLSonic]

GM Pulling Most Of Chevrolet Out Of Europe, But Leaving Corvette - Forbes

That is the article I read and they are still selling them in Russia and The Common Wealth of Independent States(CIS) but pulling them from the rest of Europe. They are doing this to boost Opel/Vauxhall sales and make them more of a standout and bring Cadillac presence to Europe.

 

[ChrisJ]

Why not trade it in now ahead of time?

For what its worth, practically all cars become worthless junk. 30 years from now someone in the UK will be collecting Sonic's like yours.

 

[Swordsmith]

Don't see how this makes your car junk, they are going to continue to support the existing cars, and will continue selling them until 2015. GM will still be there, after all, they just won't have Chevrolet on the signs.

 

[ChrisJ]

Don't see how this makes your car junk, they are going to continue to support the existing cars, and will continue selling them until 2015. GM will still be there, after all, they just won't have Chevrolet on the signs.

I understand where he is coming from.
I bought a Saturn Vue and then a Pontiac just after they went under because I got good cars cheap.

Point being the value will drastically drop on his Sonic and it could end up being a PITA to get it worked on. But you're right in that it won't be all that bad, just going to suck when he wants to sell it.

 

[nickm]

Will see what happens, the bonus being the European Chevrolet range will lose its value like a stone, therefore plenty of cheap Captivas and Cruzes.

 

[attrapereves]

Chevrolet has never been a big seller in Europe. When I lived in France, I'd say about 5% of the cars I saw were Chevrolet. Ford, on the other hand, made up about 25%.

 

[Opticon]

Point being the value will drastically drop on his Sonic and it could end up being a PITA to get it worked on.

Opel sells cars on the Gamma II platform. He should get plenty of support through them.

 

[nickm]

Thanks for all your replies.
Just a shame as I like their range of cars over here.
Chevrolet just couldn't compete with the likes of Dacia, which is doing very well in Europe.

 

[pounamu]

The Dacia Sandero is a pretty sweet car, especially with a deisel engine.

The rest of the world just has so many more options when it comes to compact and subcompact cars!

 

[Opticon]

That's because the rest of the world is MOSTLY compact and subcompact cars.

 

[Dirt55]

Yeah there was a Chevy dealer in a town close by that shut down about a year ago. I just found the Opel dealer and will be taking my car there for maintenance. It was cool cause they had Aveo's there. I should have taken a picture of my Sonic next to an Opel Aveo that looked the same...next time.

 

[muniorbust]

Sounds like you'll be that guy with the foreign car that's hard to get.
Congrats!!

 

[laborsmith]

It is a good thing that General Motors (either GM, old GM and its successor New GM) in its long and storied history would never consider dropping divisions here in the US.

Laborsmith

 

[Isambard]

It is a good thing that General Motors (either GM, old GM and its successor New GM) in its long and storied history would never consider dropping divisions here in the US.

Laborsmith

Yes, because they are doing so poorly since they dropped Saturn, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Hummer, and SAAB.

 

[laborsmith]

Absolutely.

Laborsmith

 

[Isambard]

Absolutely.

Laborsmith

I know Pontiac was on it's way to becoming a semi-premium, RWD only brand. But when the Feds tell you to axe it or no bailout, you do it.

 

[ChrisJ]

Eh,
GM had too many damn divisions before.
Yes, I liked Pontiac but fact is they (GM) were spread too thin and for a long time they had multiples of the same damn vehicles with very minor differences. I still have no idea why there are GMC trucks and Chevy trucks.

 

[laborsmith]

In the sixties I devoted two summers building trucks in Pontiac and that was an oft asked question back then. Combiining regular size GMC and Chevy truck sales would mean beating Ford regular size trucks in sales but it did not happen.

I suspect GM Europe believes Chevy siphons off sales that the Euro brands would otherwise get.

Oh, my thinking is GMC survived the reorganization because so many Buick and Cadillac dealerships were also selling GMCs.

Before GMs banruptcy there were 6000 Chevy dealers and now there are not quite 3100; cutting back was more than dropping brands.


Laborsmith

 

[sx sonic]

I can't for the life of me figure out why GM keeps so many effing divisions, with many overlapping or even identical models. Seems like alot of fat considering they have to fill alot more posistions in engineering, design, parts etc that could other wise be consolidated.


Is the Saturn,Cadillac, GMC, Opel, Holden, Buick, Daewoo brand name all that important? Wouldn't consolidating them, taking in the best designs of each division, dumping the bad ones (cough cough Daewoo manufacturing), and just building the highest quality, best engineered cars for each class? Better for cheaper.


Heck a large reason Honda was so reliable back in the day is they really only made 1 car platform and a few engines for cars. It's pretty hard not to do a good job when all the focus and R&D centered around a few designs. Chevy alone has had a vastly larger berth than that. I can only imagine what vehicles would exist if GM would attempt such a focused approach, albeit across all major car/truck categories.