GM Europe to Drop Chevrolet and concentrate on Opel-Vauxhall

[jpd80]

 

FRANKFURT -- General Motors will drop its Chevrolet brand in Europe by the end of 2015, GM Vice Chairman

Steve Girsky said today. The move is the latest effort by GM to turn around its European operations and to focus

its resources on reviving the Opel brand. Chevrolet will no longer have a mainstream presence in western and

Eastern Europe due to a challenging business model and the difficult economic situation in Europe, GM said in a

statement.

"We believe this is a win for all of our brands here in Europe and around the globe as GM will benefit from a stronger

Opel/Vauxhall," Girsky said. To pull Chevrolet out of Europe "will help us to accelerate progress in the region," he said.

 

Some of the brand's iconic models, such as the Corvette, will remain on sale in Europe, and the upmarket Cadillac

marque is working on an expansion in the region in the next three years, GM said. Chevrolet sales will continue in Russia.

Chevrolet's annual sales in Europe have remained low at about 200,000 since GM relaunched the brand in

the region in 2005. Chevrolet has focused on selling small cars such as the Aveo subcompact and Spark minicar built

by GM Daewoo in Korea. GM Daewoo produces most of the Chevrolet vehicles sold in Europe, exporting 186,000

vehicles to Europe last year, accounting for over 20 percent of the unit's total vehicle output. "We will phase out exports

to Europe by the end of 2015. We will discuss with the union how to enhance the operating efficiency of our plants,"

Park Hae-ho, a spokesman at GM Korea, said.

 

Chevrolet's deliveries in the EU and EFTA markets dropped 17 percent to 152,260 vehicles through October, giving

the nameplate 1.2 percent of the market. Opel and its sister UK division, Vauxhall, posted a 3 percent decline to

718,829 units over that period for a 6.7 percent market share.

 

Opel clash

Hurt by a brutal downturn in European demand, Chevrolet has responded by slashing prices and introducing more

upmarket models -- putting it on a collision course with Opel.Thomas Sedran, Chevrolet Europe president, said:

"Chevr t's business results have been impacted by the unfavorable economic environment in Europe."

 

Girsky said that by shutting Chevrolet GM expects to record net special charges of $700 million to $1 billion primarily

in the fourth quarter of 2013 and continuing in the first half of 2014. Of this amount, $300 million of net special charges

will be non-cash expenses. These charges include asset impairments, dealer restructuring and severance related costs.

In addition, GM said it expects to incur restructuring costs that will not be treated as special charges, but will impact GM's

international operations earnings in 2014.

 

The decision to drop the Chevrolet brand is not influenced by GM's partnership with PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, Girsky said.

"This is done independent of the PSA relationship," he said.

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/20131205/COPY01/312059955/gm-to-drop-chevrolet-in-europe-to-focus-on-opel#ixzz2mbCTIeV5

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Edited December 5, 2013 by jpd80

[silvrsvt]

Duh...another brilliant move by GM...

[RichardJensen]

Breaking: GM to keep Chevrolet in Europe.

 

 

 

 

 

Breaking: GM to drop Chevrolet in Europe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breaking: GM to keep Chevrolet in Europe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breaking: GM continues to lose money in Europe.

[156n3rd]

GM has never been any good as far as I am concerned. They have built some good cars, occasionally. But their king shit attitude of dumping Chevy anywhere it felt like proves that the name isn't what it once used to be. The European marlket has some very goods cars being sold there, and the loss or gain of Chevy is not going to be missed.