
Like many, I have owned several new Opels. The last one was acquired just over twenty years ago. I had the opportunity to acquire several new cars in recent years, but never considered buying an Opel. I think I know why.
Opel's market share in Norway has steadily declined and is still falling. What has happened to Opel since the good seventies, eighties and early nineties? The reason for the decline is that I - and others with me - no longer choose Opel when we buy a new car and would hardly consider Opel if we were to buy a new car today. But the big question is of course: Why don't we choose Opel?
I am looking through a product overview for 2013 made by Opel Norge AS. I scroll without reading. The eyes do not rest on anything. I realize I might as well have read an office supplies brochure.
It's not that I don't like the car brand. On the contrary. I recently drove a brand new Astra 1.4 Turbo, 140HP, 5-door, with the latest facelift. It drives very well - both on the motorway and in the city. It has good legroom. It is comfortable. In station wagon version, it is a full-fledged family car. The turbo petrol engine delivers power in the same way as a modern turbo diesel and the sixth gear works well on the road. I think: It will be difficult to find a larger or better equipped, motorized and smooth-driving car for three hundred thousand.
When I have parked the car on the street, right behind a new Skoda Octavia, I sense what Opel's problem is. Even with nice 17-inch light-alloy wheels and a great dark gray mother-of-pearl colour, the Astra becomes anonymous behind the Skoda. It can almost look as if someone has tried to design away the brand identity. You also get the feeling of a lack of brand identity when you sit behind the wheel of the Astra.
What should be a wake-up call for Opel's international management is that the anonymous design affects you only when you have to purchase car, not in daily use. Anyone with an interest in cars knows that Opel is a good car. In the brochure, however, - and on the street, parked behind the Skoda, no one notices the Astra.
Opel has lost its grip on almost all of its old, loyal customers. The car models appear to have no identity. One wonders whether Opel should just as well create a completely new car brand, send the management in the design department and the marketing department on a very long vacation - or early retirement. Then it is necessary to get hold of designers and marketers who have understood what the slogan is "We live Autos" really means. Then I am sure that the new brand can compete with any car brand in the whole world.
Maybe one day Opel can change its slogan to:
Opel – The one you notice!
Opel.no