General Motors announced that GM Europe has been renamed Opel Group to reflect the “widened scope of European activities”. Effective July 1, 2014, the decision sees Opel Group lead GM’s European business including Russia, with the new entity also assuming economic responsibility for all GM brands in Europe.
The management board of the Opel Group is almost identical to the so-far existing management board of the Adam Opel AG and is led by Karl-Thomas Neumann. The new entity is based in Rüsselsheim, Germany.
“Today, we are more than just Opel/Vauxhall. With the Opel Group, we align our organizational and legal entity structure in Europe with the business operations. We streamline our decision making processes and increase our efficiency. In brief: this reorganization is an important step in implementing our business plan DRIVE! 2022 and another sign of confidence of our parent company GM,” said Karl-Thomas Neumann, CEO of the management board of Opel Group GmbH.
In a separate report, Opel Group CEO said GM plans to enter Europe’s entry-level car market with a line of low-cost models. GM’s budget line will target Renault’s Dacia brand, which has become Europe’s fastest-growing carmaker.
“Dacia is a great thing. GM is definitely not Dacia, but this whole budget and entry-level market segment is very interesting. They can be admired. We are definitely looking at the segment,” Neumann told the Financial Times. GM will use the low-cost line to replace the gap left by last year’s decision to withdraw the Chevrolet brand from Europe.
“We had Chevrolet, which looked like a budget brand, but it was not. We think there is some possibility for Opel to come up with some entry-level product, specifically now Chevrolet is out of the market,” Neumann explained. He added that GM’s budget line may include a small SUV and a compact car smaller than the Opel Astra, with both models to be priced similarly to Dacias.
By Dan Mihalascu
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