If you don't forget it, there will be an echo. Opel Motors, which has lost the Chinese market for many years, has no idea of giving up, but wants to regroup and plans to return. Recently, it has been reported that Opel is negotiating cooperation with Dongfeng Group. Opel will return to the Chinese market as a domestic producer, and its models will be produced in line with Peugeot Citroen and will be built on the same platform. Although the official did not respond positively to this message, there must be a reason for the incident, and it will not come out of nowhere.
Once defeated In China, where is the Opel difference?
Opel is not a strange car brand for the post-70s, post-80s, and even post-90s groups, but for the post-00s, perhaps not many people understand, which is related to the bumpy fate of Opel Motors in the Chinese market.
Opel Motors once entered the Chinese market in 1993, its models were sold in China as imported cars, it was the period of fruitful harvest of reform and opening up, the purchasing power of domestic consumers continued to increase, and there were not many models available in the domestic market, so Opel Motors first stepped into the mainland market to taste the sweetness and obtain good market results, and Opel Motors also launched dozens of models in China, including Yingsuya, Astra GTC, etc., covering small, medium and large cars, as well as SUVs. Fully meet the diversified domestic demand for automobiles.
However, the good times are not long, entering the 21st century, Opel's performance in China is deteriorating, of which between 2011 and 2014, the annual sales volume is less than 5,000 vehicles, which leads to the decline of Opel's sales, mainly related to the strategic planning of the General Motors brand.
Before 2017, Opel was still a sub-brand of General Motors, when Opel's models shared product lines with General Motors, and the new models manufactured by the two brands can be said to be changing soup without changing medicine, they are all the same, so Opel's products and General Motors' Chevrolet, Buick and other brand models have formed internal competition.
Of course, GM does not want to see its own products kill each other, so it concentrates the resources of Opel Motors in the core markets of Europe, which is the key to the decline of Opel Motors' sales in China. Opel Motors, which has no intention of developing in the Chinese market, also officially withdrew from the Chinese market in January 2015, ending his 21-year career in China.
However, Opel's performance in the European market also fell short of expectations, losing money for consecutive years, and finally in 2017, GM sold Opel to the PSA Group, which as of now is owned by the new group Stellantis, which is the merger of Peugeot Citroen (PSA) and Fiat Chrysler (FCA).
What has changed since the return?
In fact, the news of Opel's return to the Chinese market has been circulating as early as 2021, but only recently has there been news of new steps.
Judging from the current information, in the future, Opel Automobile will abandon the fuel vehicle market, focus on the field of electric vehicles, and transform into a pure electric brand. In the future, Opel Automotive will reshape its brand image and become a younger and greener global brand. In addition, Opel Also said that from 2024, all models of the Opel brand will launch electrified versions, and by 2028, Opel will fully electrify the European market, and Opel will take the lead in launching 9 models this year.
Opel's pure electric vehicle model will be based on the electric vehicle platform of the Stellantis Group, it is understood that the Stellantis Group has a new electric platform of STLA S, STLA M, STLA L and STLA F, covering small cars, medium-sized cars, pickup trucks and other models, with a cruising range of 500-800km.
It is reported that Opel may use a small platform in the new platform to manufacture vehicles in the future. It is expected that by around 2025, Opel Motors will launch a pure electric model Manta E, and in the same year, Opel Motors will enter the Chinese market with an all-electric vehicle lineup. However, regarding the specific information of the new models launched in the Chinese market, Opel Motors has not yet been announced, not excluding Manta E, this car should be built using the STLA Small architecture or STLA Medium architecture of the Stellantis Group, with a mileage of about 480 km or 640 km, and the positioning of the new car in the future may be between the size of the compact car or the mid-size car.
Can you win with new strategies and technologies?
From the strategic planning, it cannot be seen that Opel Motors is looking at the big blue ocean of the new energy vehicle market, and relying on the electric vehicle platform of the Stellantis Group, it also has enough capabilities to ensure product quality.
Indeed, the current global auto market is encouraging the new energy vehicle market, of which China is also the world's largest new energy vehicle market, in recent years the market sales are also rising rapidly, 2021 performance increased by 69.1% year-on-year to 2.899 million units, retail sales in January this year also reached 347,000 units, an increase of 132% year-on-year. Nowadays, the goal of carbon neutrality and carbon peaking has not yet been achieved, and the sales volume of the new energy vehicle market in the mainland can usher in rapid growth in the future, if Opel Automobile returns to the Chinese market as an electric vehicle brand, it is expected to catch up with a wave of new energy vehicle dividend period.
Opel Motors has been in the Chinese market for 21 years, and got rid of the shackles of General Motors, then Opel Motors with many years of experience in China and the technical support of The Stellantis Group, there is hope for good development under the wind outlet of new energy vehicles.
Although Opel Motors comes from Germany like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen and other well-known brands, its popularity in China is very low, just like a brand new brand, in this case, if you want to rise in the most competitive Chinese car market, you need to have outstanding strength in car manufacturing technology, service, or marketing, so as to attract consumer attention.
In addition, the strength of the world's fourth largest automobile group Stellantis is not bad, but the models of its car brands are not popular in China, and the products of Peugeot Citroen and Fiat Chrysler have not been widely recognized by domestic consumers, so Opel Automobile and Peugeot Citroen's model co-production does not rule out that the design of the vehicle is also difficult to meet the needs of consumer car purchases.
At the same time, other brands of new energy technology is constantly strong, BYD's blade battery, D-Mi super hybrid system, and GAC Aean magazine battery technology, etc., have a strong lethality, while Volkswagen, Honda and other famous car companies are also vigorously developing new energy vehicles, then as a "new" brand of Opel Automobile, it is not easy to get a share of the Chinese new energy vehicle market, how far can Opel auto return to the Chinese market in the future, whether it can rely on new energy vehicles to gain a new life, you need to play a big question mark.
The mainland new energy vehicle market is still a fertile land, presumably Opel Motors plans to return mainly to this point. However, now that the development of the mainland automobile market is becoming more and more mature, consumers are paying more and more attention to brand awareness, the technical level of the vehicle itself, and the sense of luxury. And PSA's performance in China is not ideal, so is the final outcome of Opel's new energy vehicles and Peugeot Citroën's model sharing platform the same as PSA's PSA?