Opel Australia has announced today that it will be ceasing its local operations. It’s been a very brief flirtation with Australia and comes just over 12 months since Opel presented itself to local buyers at the Australian International Motor Show.
Since sales commenced last year the brand has sold 1530 vehicles in Australia to the end of June, across 20 stand alone dealerships. The brand cites an inability to remain competitive with its pricing and marketing strategies as the reasons for its departure.
Opel says it will work with Holden to see if there is potential to bring Holden badged Opel products to Australia in the future.
You can read Opel Australia’s full statement after the break.
Opel Australia Announcement
August 2 2013, Melbourne: Opel Australia will cease operations and will commence winding down its network immediately.
In order to be competitive, Opel Australia would need to follow recent competitor price reductions, and significantly reposition the price of its core volume models.
These changes, combined with the continued investment required to ensure brand awareness, result in a business which is not financially viable for any of the parties involved.
Opel will now begin analysis together with Holden regarding the potential for future Holden-badged niche product, in order to ascertain if opportunities for individual carlines exist.
Opel Australia is working closely with employees, dealers and suppliers to conduct this closure process in an orderly and responsible manner. As always, customers are of the highest priority, and Opel Australia will remain in close contact with them, to ensure all on-going obligations to these customers are met.
Customers are encouraged to contact the Opel Customer Assistance Centre on 1800 993 677 with any concerns or questions.
12 replies on “Opel to cease Australian operations”
Geez. Let it breathe!
You can’t just roll into a full-market and expect to be profitable from day one. Considerable marketing investment and brand development is required.
Apparently the decision came direct from Germany, although I understand Australian management was in agreement with the course of action taken.
cheap opc? had to laugh at that guy saying they would get to 15,000 sales per year
Gee….that was quick indeed.
Toodles!
Makes you wonder what planning was done in the first place. They even haven’t finished building the dealership near where i live. All seems strangely un Germanic. Holden not likely to be much help
Sad day. They had some potential
Bad luck for the Melbourne Football Club losing Opel as a major sponsor. Just another one of the many very wrong thinks that has happened to the club.
Hopefully the MFC guys have a good contract that will have them getting the money for the full contract period even if the Opel insignia gets removed.
It worked for the RadioShack-Leopard (previously RadioShack-Nissan) WorldTour cycling team, when Nissan withdrew before their contract was up after the Armstrong-Ferrari-Bruyneel doping revelations and their star rider Frank Schleck had a positive test last year. The most that Nissan could do mid-contract was keep paying for this season and order the team to remove all visible signs of Nissan affiliation anywhere, including using other vehicles.
You would think they would have at least a 3 year plan or something. The 1st year setup is the most costly part. Makes no sense at all.
Strange that the Sales & Marketing Manager was from a dealership level with no experience at this level to launch a new brand. The marketing was awful. Those poorly imitated German speaking ads were ridiculous. They kept banging that ad instead of showing us how “good” their cars were!
Poor customer communication, missed dates for new product arrivals and 2-5% maximum discounts, oh and locally 3 separate sales reps being replaced in 6 months doesn’t help. Then there’s the, “I usually sell Nissans next door, but help out the other sales person here” (and I know NOTHING ABOUT THE PRODUCT) really is amateur.
All that helped me NOT buy an OPC.
I’ve had similar experiences to Alpine. Shame because their cars look good for the most part. But if they can’t compete on price it’s always going to be tough no matter what a marketing plan says.
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