Automotive News Europe - September 2011 - 58

Q A
&
K
Where does Opel’s restructuring stand?

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

OEM

KARL-FRIEDRICH STRACKE

AHEAD OF PLAN
New CEO plans to revive Opel/Vauxhall; polish the brand with innovative products like Ampera
arl-Friedrich Stracke believes he has the wind at his back. In April, he was named CEO of Opel/Vauxhall with the task of bringing General Motors’ only unprofitable unit back into the black. The division’s turnaround is starting to gain momentum, Stracke says. This year, Opel has increased market share in 19 out of 27 European markets. The company is preparing to roll out three significant products: the Zafira Tourer, Astra GTC and Ampera plugin hybrid. And Opel’s sales are expected to grow 8 percent this year despite Europe’s sluggish recovery. Stracke outlined Opel’s progress in an interview with Automotive News Europe Editor-in-Chief Harald Hamprecht. shorter factory breaks (to boost production). At the same time, we have very important introductions ahead of us. The Zafira Tourer and the Astra GTC will give us a more powerful tailwind.
What are you planning for 2012?

MEET THE BOSS

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Our goal is to be sustainably profitable beginning next year.
Can you be more specific?

I wouldn’t like to cite specific figures. But we’re confident we will achieve our goal with our significantly improved cost structure, which will have its effect in 2012 for the first time. And (we are targeting) higher sales figures.
How do you plan to polish the brand’s image?

Karl-Friedrich Stracke, 55, rose through the GM ranks after joining Opel as a mechanical engineer in 1979. After working in Europe in jobs such as manufacturing director at Opel’s plant in Bochum, Germany, and as Opel product development director, he became GM Europe’s head of engineering in 2004, responsible for Opel/Vauxhall and product development and Saab product design. After 2006, Stracke took on global product roles within GM, becoming head of global vehicle engineering in 2009, when he led development of the Opel Ampera and Chevrolet Volt. The native of Hesse, Germany, was called back to Europe in April to succeed Nick Reilly as Opel/Vauxhall CEO.

We are on the right path. I can’t anticipate financial results, but we have gained market share in 19 out of 27 European markets since the start of the year. We are also in the running outside of Europe. For example, we plan to sell 60,000 Opels in Russia this year – after 40,000 last year.
Last year, you sold 1.2 million units. How many will you sell this year?

The Ampera is our most important launch of the year – the right vehicle at the right time. It puts us three years ahead of the competition. It drives under purely electric power at least 60km and then additionally about 500km thanks to the range extender.
Isn’t the Ampera a rebadged Chevrolet Volt?

What is the process for Ampera sales in Europe? Can every Opel dealer sell the Ampera?

I assume about 1.3 million vehicles for all of 2011. And we won’t stay there. We want to continue to expand our market share in Europe, our main market. We achieved an overall share of 6.4 percent in Europe over the first half of the year. In the German car market, we reached a share of 8.4 percent in June alone. At the end of the year, we want to be still higher. By the middle of the decade, we are striving for 8.5 percent in Europe and more than 10 percent in Germany.
How does that affect your financial prospects?

That perception is incorrect. The Ampera and Volt siblings are a development of General Motors and not of an individual brand. Many engineers in the U.S. as well as our research center at Mainz-Kastel carried out this development. I myself played a leading role as GM’s vice president of engineering. We differentiated the two vehicles sharply from another: In the exterior and interior design, in the driving and acoustic comfort, and above all in the eight-year battery warranty that only will be available to Ampera customers.
How many Amperas do you plan to sell?

No. Out of our 4,600 dealerships in Europe, 150 to 200 are becoming Ampera partners. They will invest in the necessary hardware and software. Most of the Ampera dealers initially will be in Germany and the Netherlands. We expect Germany and the Netherlands each will generate 30 percent of the Ampera’s total European sales volume.
What other measures are you planning to improve your image?

We will pay more attention to our Opel clubs, the most loyal fans of our brand. We will closely examine our motorsports strategy and carefully weigh what advances our brand the most. On the product side, we will become more emotionally appealing with models such as the Astra GTC, a small SUV and a new, innovative small car in the B segment.
What are the plans for a new flagship above the Insignia? According to well-informed company sources, it won’t be ready before 2016-2017 and you plan to sell 20,000 units a year.

Nothing has changed with regard to our objective of finishing 2011 at least at breakeven.
So you will be fulfilling the plan introduced by your predecessor, Nick Reilly?

It was certainly a good, realistic plan. Incidentally, we are even above the sales plan for this year. Now we need special shifts and

We expect a volume of 8,000 to 10,000 vehicles in 2012. At the moment, we already have 5,000 pre-orders, including 2,000 from private customers. In addition, our production capacity was recently increased at GM’s Hamtramck factory, where the Ampera is built. I am confident that we can build 12,000 to 15,000 Amperas if demand keeps growing.

We are in the planning phase and we’ll use GM’s modular architecture kit for it. Such a vehicle would round out our brand upwards and position it higher overall. ■

❙ For the complete Karl-Friedrich Stracke interview go to europe.autonews.com/strackeexecedition ❙ 58
ANE EXECUTIVE EDITION SEPTEMBER 2011

http://europe.autonews.com/strackeexecedition

Automotive News Europe - September 2011

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