Opel Sees Bounty in Small as Premium Plan

PARIS – Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann says the automaker’s Insignia sedan will mark the high-point of the brand’s range as it continues to peg its turnaround on small vehicles with highly desirable add-on features, instead of striking at the traditional premium segment in Europe.

“For me, the ceiling is Insignia,” Neumann tells reporters during a roundtable earlier today at the Paris auto show.

The Insignia, which General Motors sells in the U.S. and China as the Buick Regal, received a mid-cycle enhancement last year for each of those regions. A full redesign remains several years away, but Neumann says when it comes the redo will heavily incorporate elements of the Monza concept car unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show last year and likely signal a successful comeback for the Opel brand.

“The new Insignia will be the proof in the pudding,” he says.

The Insignia will remain at the top of Opel’s range, at least for the near future. Neumann wants the brand’s turnaround focused on smaller cars, CUVs and niche vehicles that offer optional features customers will buy.

The tiny Mokka CUV kick-started the small-but-premium plan with its launch in 2012. It was an industry-first for its size and utility, and sales surged as availability rolled out through the European Union.

Earlier this year, Mokka deliveries eclipsed 200,000 to cement it as a No.1 seller, and at the show here Neumann unveils an all-new, top-trim-level 1.6L 4-cyl. turbodiesel almost certain to appeal for its tax-friendly emissions and drivability.

The Adam A-car was a second salvo. It bowed last year with personalization items such as a starry-night interior roof treatment, interchangeable wheel caps and one of the segment’s most highly connected infotainment systems.

“Adam is an example of premium,” Neumann says. “It tells a story. It is your personal Adam. There is plenty of opportunity for our dealers to up-sell it.

“We are selling too many low-line fits,” he adds. “We should sell more of the premium-line fits.”

Neumann sees the new Corsa, also unveiled here, pushing the plan further along and putting Opel on track to overtake PSA Peugeot Citroen as the No.2 passenger-vehicle seller in the region behind Volkswagen.

Through the first six months of 2014, Opel sales in Europe grew 3% to 596,000 units from 579,000, compared to an industry up 2%. It controlled 7.7% of the market at the end of June, up from 6.8% year-ago.

Revenue also grew 6.6% in the January-through-June period, another signal the Opel reboot is working, Neumann says.

“We need a solid brand, because if the brand is bad, perceived as cheap and undesirable, no one will buy you,” he says. “We want a cool brand with great cars, and then we will not just be selling on price.

“Our approach is not to be premium on price. We are not there. But to be in the middle of the field, in an approachable way so people can afford us, and then up-sell the car a little bit.”

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