How long before its all over for Vauxhall ?

we got a zafira at the moment great car had a problem with a rodent taking up residence in the heating.... insurance and dealer seemed amused tho lol, other than that had for 2 years nearly and has been great
got a massive boot for a wheelchair for me son used to have a foldup so the focus was okish

had a nissan almera tino constant electrical faults keys wont work fuel pump wont go was a headache for 3 years

before that we had a focus ok for short trips but footwells filling up with water all the time and very uncomfortable for any long journeys

just my views on em but every1s had different experiences
 
Minxy said:
Some can't seem to accept that Vauxhall are upping their game and actually producing some decent cars. They have a big following in the Enthusiast clubs and a long and successful racing history.
Click to expand...

People always say things like this, last time it was some chap saying that the VXR forum was full of people moving from Mondeo ST220's to a Vectra VXR, of course an 'Enthusiast's Club' would show a following, just like a chocolate lovers club shows chocolate has a following.

Opel/Vx do make cars which work, that people like, however their business has been mainly Fleet/Business sales. You can't just look down the street to see how many focus/astra you see drive by, however, there's no doubt there are a lot of Vauxhall vehicles on the road, and even more in Europe. Remember they were number 2 in the largest market, Germany, up until this year.

I don't really want to see them go down the pan, and I dont think they will, they WILL get help when it gets to the 11th hour. If they collapse there will be a huge black hole with suppliers going etc.
 
Last edited:
Overlag said:
was reading in the paper the other day that ford sold 14'000 new Fiesta's so ford are doing "fine" with sales. Also said that those sales was to people like us so they got full price for them.
Click to expand...

This is true, roughly 30,000+ B and C cars were ordered from Germany from Ford through their scrappage scheme, such a big leap in fact it overtook from the UK as Ford's largest European market at the moment. Scrappage is really helping our sales, I think I saw the other day, where car sales were down ~20%, Ford was only down 14%, thus capturing market share.
 
Kappa said:
This is true, roughly 30,000+ B and C cars were ordered from Germany from Ford through their scrappage scheme, such a big leap in fact it overtook from the UK as Ford's largest European market at the moment. Scrappage is really helping our sales, I think I saw the other day, where car sales were down ~20%, Ford was only down 14%, thus capturing market share.
Click to expand...

As pointed out above though, Vauxhall tend to go more down the fleet route. Companies such as 1Car1.com (who it is worth noting has recently gone bust) run mainly Vauxhalls in both cars and vans. So as fleet sales decrease through both hire companies and through company car orders then Vauxhall are probably more likely to suffer for it.
 
Berger said:
The police used SD1's, Rover 800 Vitesses, and also some 400s, one of which could potentially belong to a member of this very forum!

Didnt stop Rover going down the pan ;)
Click to expand...

Hope not, don't the Police usually have the pov spec interiors?

It took me over a month to find a diesel 400 that wasn't a pov spec interior but with the intercooler!
 
Minxy said:
As pointed out above though, Vauxhall tend to go more down the fleet route. Companies such as 1Car1.com (who it is worth noting has recently gone bust) run mainly Vauxhalls in both cars and vans. So as fleet sales decrease through both hire companies and through company car orders then Vauxhall are probably more likely to suffer for it.
Click to expand...

Minxy said:
Opel/Vx do make cars which work, that people like, however their business has been mainly Fleet/Business sales.
Click to expand...

:)

Recently companies are looking to roll back on company cars as benefits and weighing up extended warranties vs purchasing new vehicles after 3 years etc. This is burning a big hole into Opel's revenue. I'm not sure why Vauxhall hasn't connected as well as VW or Ford with general public buyers, but talks of Opel being in trouble, as well as 6 months of GM being in danger certainly hasnt helped sales at all.
 
Janesy B said:
Vauxhall cars are just bread and butter motoring, if all you expect from a car is that it doesn't break down and it keeps you dry then Vauxhalls don't disappoint. Some people forget that most people just don't care that much about cars, a car to most people is just a tool from getting from A to B.

VX probably get a lot of Police custom because they seem willing to bend over backwards and customise the cars for the needs of the Police, price probably comes into the equation as well.
Click to expand...

Exactly what you describe funnily also fits Ford/Citreon/Peugeot/etc..

We all know these manufacturers build hum-drum cars for bread and butter motoring (with the exception of the ST/VXR type sub-brands).

The thing Ford do well is provide a more 'connected' feel to the drive, and in the case of the Vectra-C, the gap in that department is quite noticeable..
But crucially, material quality and build quality are extrememly similar, despite peoples irrationality about it.. The styling may be poor for some people, I absolutely agree on that, but I wish people would back up claims of build quality/material quality with some actual independant evidence, becuase every review I find seems to put the Vx right on the money with the Ford (And also IMO) in everything but chassis feel, but usually this doesn't translate from anything on track.

Don't get me wrong, I am under no illusion that Vx isn't humdrum, but only in the exact same way as all the rest in it's class..

I know Vx (like VW) are now only starting to wake up to the 'more connected' chassis feel.. but the bottom line is, from A-B, despite less feedback, there is enough for the equivalent Vx to be actually marginally quicker then the equivalent Ford.. Go Figure...

(That's based on the 5th gear 1.6 Focus/Astra hire car shoot-out, the VXR Astra Top Gear lap time, and the Vectra VXR EVO track time/review).

Personally, I still think Ford are smidge better in some models then Vx, the new Fiesta would be my choice over a corsa, the Focus would get it also (until the new Astra), but I'd possibly look at an Insignia over a Mondeo (But these are very much of a muchness).. But I would never, ever in a million years describe Ford as being excellent, and Vx as being dire, that would be amazingly far from the truth.. It's just a matter of choice..
 
Last edited:
Overlag said:
was reading in the paper the other day that ford sold 14'000 new Fiesta's so ford are doing "fine" with sales. Also said that those sales was to people like us so they got full price for them. And then led on to say 80% of Vauxhalls sales are to fleet/business at massive discount hence they havnt been going so well.
Click to expand...


the massive discounts have been on the outgoing vectra.

They've been shifting all the old stock ready for the insignia. But they cant get enough insignias apparently, order books full for the next 6 months.
 
Demon said:
The thing Ford do well is provide a more 'connected' feel to the drive,
Click to expand...

which the vast majority of vauxhall buyers dont want.

They want utilitarian transport to take them from A to B without breaking down. Vauxhall manage to sell plenty of cars this way.

If your interested in your cars, you buy a VXR (which has a decent brand following) or you buy something else.

But saying that vauxhall are in trouble because they dont feel "connected" is rubbish, because its completely irrelevant.
 
^^ I think you took that out of context, from what I read Demon was only commenting on a positive Ford have, yet still explained that Ford and Opel vehicles are for the same kind of buyer and aren't far apart. Which I agree with.
 
I've been told of some meetings that have taken place in the big leasing companies, whereby the agenda has been "do we stop buying Vauxhalls'"

I think the end is near...they won't survive what is probably going to be a fairly long recession.
 
Personally, I wouldn't touch a Vauxhall with a bargepole, but that's more personal preference than anything else.

I actually see politics as more likely to kill em'.
For one thing, what car owner (i.e. GM) turns around to a foreign nation to say "please bail out the balls up that we've made".
More to the point, just why would Europe bother? We have plenty of other euro-owned companies who I'm guessing we'd be far more inclined to support and give grants to than GM.
Additionally, GM have made it quite clear that THEY own the factories and car designs of Opel/Vauxhall. In other words, we want our cake, and we'd like you to pay for it please.
I see the Germans (despite being most affected) flicking two V's at the Americans and giving the dosh to Stuttgart, Inglestadt and Munich.
 
I had a zafia as a rental not so long ago and was impressed with the build quality and ride. The 1.9 TDI felt a bit week but the again it's a big car.

I think GM will keep it's American brands going but I think they will sell vauxhall off cheap. The Chinese or the Germans might buy it.
 
Build quality, perceived or otherwise is not the primary cause of GM issues; it's the outrageously large amount of money they are heamoraging into pension funds which has a current shortfall of over $12 billion. They were in a desperately bad situation prior to the recent global economy situation which is likely to be the final nail in an already very well nailed coffin. Ford and Chrysler aren't too far behind.
 
Which brands does GM cover now, we have VX,Opel,Holden,Saab, what else do they cover?

As stated Ford are in the doo-doo aswell, Europe has been bailing out Ford US for far too long.

Ultimately unless the banks start giving out credit willy nilly again, pretty much all of the automotive industry is in trouble.Pretty much every manufacturer will have upped their list price this April, some like VX and Ford have implented 3 price rises in the last 6 months.

Talking of pensions, we lost our final salary pension last year, the fund had a 500million (sterling) hole, I dread to think what that would have been now, fortunatly we got another decent scheme.
 
wohoo said:
As stated Ford are in the doo-doo aswell, Europe has been bailing out Ford US for far too long.
Click to expand...

at least the euro wing of the company makes money.

ford USA pay far too much for pensions and heath insurance to there employees. almost as bad as the banks...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom