GM decide not to sell Opel/Vauxhall

Okay, so I for one was over the moon when the sale of Opel to Canadian parts manufacturer Magna International Inc. Magna had shown a rare vision in modern automotive companies, it wants to promote electric vehicles (EV’s). Magna International had already developed EV technology and were buying one of Europe’s largest automobile manufacturers. Within a year or five there was the distinct possibility that we could have ‘normal’ electric vehicles rolling off production lines in Russelheim and Ellesmere Port. This could have been it, forget you’re G-Whizzes and Ford Th!nks, we would have had Opel Astras and Opel Insignias out there on the streets in ordinary peoples hands. That’s how EV’s will make it big, by them becoming the norm, not some little fibreglass go-kart.

Then comes the news yesterday that GM have made more money than they were expecting, US Taxpayers money, and to celebrate GM decided to pull the sale of Opel/Vauxhall. Ordinarily that would seem like good news but Magna had already been in discussions with the unions, had already worked out a way to make the business work after GM had let things get so bad. Now we’ve got GM playing the jealous older sibling “its mine hands off!” “you’re not having Opel/Vauxhall, I want them”. This leaves the staff unsure again what’s going to happen to their jobs, it means a stagnation of vehicle development and the prospect that we may have a version of the Chevy Volt thrust on us.

Don’t get me wrong the Chevy Volt IS a step in the right direction, it’s a 1.4litre hybrid, not a million miles from the old Toyota Prius, but that’s the point, the OLD prius. The new Prius comes with a bigger more efficient engine, it’ll come with a plug soon so you can plug it in boosting your mpg’s to around 150, still nowhere near the efficiency of a true battery electric vehicle but much better than what GM are promising.

That’s what’s going to happen, the Volt will be released with great fanfare but it’ll be released to a world where cars have already moved on. Toyota are miles ahead promising hybrid versions of all it’s cars, Honda have a couple of great cars, Magna Steyr are already developing their own car, Tesla have grasped the publics attention with their sports cars, Smith Electric have developed an EV version of the Ford Tourneo Connect, Ford may eventually bite the bullet and market a version of the focus with either a Magna or Smith drivetrain and Renault have already made a lot noise about the four new EV models they will be releasing soon.

So what of Opel/Vauxhall, well what we’ve got left is European arm of GM who were almost in a position to come out of the darkness and become world leaders in mass produced electric vehicles gobbled back into the arms of the company that destroyed it’s own EV programme for Hummers about ten years ago. What can we expect as the next move? I’m not sure but I’m guessing GM will find a way of stuffing the Volt project up somehow, Ford will flounder a bit longer and the smaller manufacturers will struggle to get enough interest to make the economies needed to get the price low enough to compete with mass produced oil burning vehicles we’ve become so used to.