Ask someone outside the British Isles what a Vauxhall is and they’re likely to shrug their shoulders. That’s because the brand only markets in the UK, where it serves essentially as the local counterpart to Opel. But that could change.
The PSA Group that owns the Peugeot, Citroën, and DS brands recently acquired both Opel and Vauxhall from General Motors, and is in the process of formulating a new business plan for both brands.
Speaking with Auto Express at the Frankfurt Motor Show last week, PSA chief Carlos Tavares left the door open to Vauxhall exporting to other markets. “If it makes money,” said Tavares, Vauxhall could extend beyond its traditional market. “It’s all about the manufacturing costs – can you build a business plan that flies or not?”
“We at PSA are not building the turnaround plan, Opel teams are building the turnaround plan,” the PSA chief explained. “Everything is open – we are very pragmatic people.”
If the plan being hatched by Opel chief Michael Lohscheller includes turning Vauxhall from a strictly British brand into a worldwide exporter, it could mean selling Vauxhalls under one of its sister brands in other markets, or relaunching it as its own name in countries outside the UK.
The biggest factor, however, in determining Vauxhall’s potential outside its home country will likely be Brexit – the UK’s impending divorce from the European Union. PSA won’t be the only company watching the situation, however, as other automakers consider moving their manufacturing operations outside the UK. Most of the country’s largest automakers are owned by foreign companies like Volkswagen (Bentley), BMW (Rolls-Royce and Mini), and Tata (Jaguar Land Rover), and many more foreign automakers manufacture in the UK as well.
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