Automotive News Europe - February 16, 2009 - 3

February 16, 2009 www.autonewseurope.com · PAGE 3 Leaner, quicker GM Europe emerges New structure gives Opel, Chevrolet, Saab more freedom John Revill Automotive News Europe General Motors is restructuring its sales, marketing and aftersales operations in Europe to give its Opel, Chevrolet Europe and Saab brands more autonomy. The move is likely to include a greater role for Chevrolet in Europe as GM’s entry brand while also making it easier for Saab to be spun off into a separate company. The change also will allow each brand to be more responsive to market conditions, Brent Dewar, GM Europe’s head of sales, marketing and aftersales told Automotive News Europe . “This year will be as challenging as 2008. We want to speed up decision making and focus our resources,” Dewar said. Tough years “We want to speed up decision making and focus our resources.” Brent Dewar, GM Europe sales boss GM’s 2008 sales in Europe*; % chg from 2007 Opel/Vauxhall 1,460,000 -10.5 Chevrolet 507,038 10.7 Saab 66,582 -22.0 GM other 7,928 -5.7 Total 2,040,000 -6.5 *Includes Europe plus Turkey, Russia Source: Company its Astra lower-medium car, Chevrolet will introduce the Cruze lower-medium car and Saab will launch a new 95 medium-premium car. European solution Dewar said there would be some cost savings as a result of the reorganization, although this was not the main reason for the change. “We started with the multibrand model and now we are going to the next level. Europe is not a one-size fits all solution,” Dewar said. “Chevrolet is very different from Opel and both are different from Saab.” Chevrolet is GM’s value-for-money brand in Europe. Opel is its midpriced volume seller and Saab is a near-premium carmaker. Chevrolet’s Brannon said the restructuring will boost the brand’s profile in Europe. “We intend to be more of a player in Europe,” he said. Despite the economic downturn, Chevrolet increased its sales in Eu- Alain Visser will focus more on Opel’s sales strategy. ing officer, a job that is being abolished as the company gives the former group-run responsibility to the brands. 2. Wayne Brannon will become GM Europe’s vice president for Chevrolet. Currently, Brannon is executive director of Chevrolet Europe. 3. Jan-Ake Jonsson remains managing director of Saab. GM’s Vauxhall brand in the UK will be unaffected by the change, with its managing director, Bill Parfitt, reporting directly to Dewar on sales matters. Dewar said GM Europe’s multibrand structure had served the carmaker well but, “We will now transfer to a setup with more autonomy for the individual brands.” Dewar said making the changes now will allow Opel, Chevrolet and Saab to develop their own marketing strategies for the launches key of models this year. Opel will launch a new generation of New focus on sales As part of the initiative, three GM Europe executives will take control of sales and marketing at the company’s key brands March 1. 1. Alain Visser becomes GM Europe’s vice president for Opel. Visser’s old job was GM Europe chief market- rope, including Russia and Turkey, by 10.7 percent to 507,000 cars last year. Brannon provided an example of how the structural change should make the brands more responsive. He said that earlier this month he arranged the movement of 400 Chevrolets from one country to another with a 45-minute phone call. “That is the kind of responsiveness we want in future,” Brannon said. “It would have been much slower under the old structure.” Other areas where marketing could be changed include pricing and marketing campaigns adapted to fit each market. Saab’s Jonsson said the new structure would let the carmaker react faster to changes in the market. Said Jonsson: “We will not be working through many different layers and we can better focus our ANE brand.” VW union boss gains seat on Porsche’s inner council Porsche critic Osterloh is now a member of sports car maker’s key decision-making body Bettina Mayer Automotive News Europe STUTTGART Volkswagen group’s union chief Bernd Osterloh has joined the four-person inner council of Porsche Automobil Holding, the body that oversees the Porsche-Piëch family’s 51 percent stake in VW group. Osterloh has been the most powerful critic of Porsche’s takeover of VW but it is not clear whether he gained more influence at Porsche with the new appointment. “By being a member of the presidium [inner council], Osterloh strengthened his power at Porsche because he will be involved in important decisions right from the beginning,” said Frank Schwope, auto analyst at Nord/LB bank in Germany. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, a German academic, disagrees. “Osterloh lost power because he is not stronger than Porsche’s union head Uwe Hück,” said Dudenhöffer, who is director of the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Hück is Porsche Automobil supervisory board vice chairman and also a member of the board’s inner council. Other members are Porsche Chairman Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piëch. Porsche plans to take full control of VW and Osterloh has been determined to protect VW from Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking’s influence. Osterloh has said he fears that VW jobs would be at risk with Porsche Automobil’s supervisory board taking key decisions about VW’s future investments. VW and Porsche are set to become increasingly linked financially. Porsche confirmed at its annual meeting here January 30 that it intends to increase its VW shareholding to 75 percent during 2009. Porsche will then seek a domination and profit transfer agreement that would grant it full control of VW’s cash flows. “If Porsche gets a domination agreement then all the important decisions will be made in Zuffenhausen,” Osterloh told a German news agency. Osterloh represents VW’s workforce of 360,000. Porsche has 12,000 workers. After two years of disputes, the current global economic crisis has reduced the friction between Porsche and VW. “At both companies, economic performance is key now. That’s why differences have been settled – in order to Photo: AP VW’s Osterloh (right) and Porsche’s Hück are vying for influence. emerge from the current economic crisis,” said Christian Müller said, conANE sultant at IHS Global Insight. Miura’s success surprised Lamborghini Luca Ciferri Automotive News Europe Ferruccio Lamborghini knew his young car company’s second model would be a hit, but he badly underestimated just how popular the car would be. Prior to the Lamborghini Miura’s debut at the 1966 Geneva auto show, Ferruccio bet Italian coachbuilding legend Nuccio Bertone Ferruccio Lamborghini that his young car compa- created a company to challenge Ferrari. ny would sell 50 Miuras. Nuccio Bertone was a big fan of the project. His company Stubborn and successful won the chance to design the Miura The birth of the Miura and the creafter Nuccio fell in love with the car’s compact chassis and told Ferruccio: ation of Automobili Ferruccio Lam“I will pen the perfect shoe to fit such borghini S.p.A in 1963 probably would not have happened without a wonderful foot.” Despite his admiration of the pro- some unexpected help from Ferrari ject, Nuccio Bertone expected no founder Enzo Ferrari. According to legend, a heated armore than 20 units to be made. gument between Ferruccio LamBoth men were wrong. borghini and Enzo Ferrari drove FerLamborghini built 764 Miuras. Spearheading the creation of one ruccio – at the time a rich and sucof the most beautiful sports cars ever cessful tractor maker with a passion made is one of the reasons why Fer- for exotic sports cars – into the auto ruccio Lamborghini has earned a industry. spot in the European Automotive Hall of Fame. Next month he will join three other Class of 2009 inductees in the Hall: prolific independent car designer Giovanni Michelotti; DAF founder and transmission innovator Hub van Doorne, and the father of the Baby Benz, former Mercedes CEO Werner Breitschwerdt. When the Miura was unveiled on February 2, 1966, the company became a true sports car maker and Ferruccio Lamborghini became an automotive legend. Financial troubles at his tractor business forced Ferruccio to sell a 51 percent stake in his automaker in 1972. He sold his remaining stake two years later. By 1980, Automobili Lamborghini was bankrupt. Ferruccio planned to buy Automobili Lamborghini from a Bologna bankruptcy court, but he did not bid at the first auction for the company because he felt no one would want the carmaker. He expected to get the company later for a much lower price. The plan failed. Jean-Pierre Mirman, the only bidder at the auction, took control in August 1980. Ferruccio Lamborghini died on February 20, 1993. He was 76. ANE Hall of Fame induction event Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2009 Where: Hotel InterContinental, Geneva, Switzerland Dress Code: Business attire Tickets: €185 each; €1,750 table of 10 7:00pm: Cocktail Reception 7:45pm: Dinner and 2009 member inductions For more information go to: www.autohalloffame.org One man, two museums The results of Ferruccio Lamborghini’s hard work are displayed in two very different museums that are less than 30km apart. Automobili Lamborghini has a museum in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy, 20km east of Modena. There, visitors will find displays of Lamborghini cars and race boats that are powered by the automaker’s famous V-12 engines. The other museum – 27km northeast of Sant’Agata Bolognese, in Dosso – was created by Ferruccio’s son, Tonino Lamborghini. The Ferruccio Lamborghini Museum has a smaller car collection, but offers great examples of the other products Ferruccio’s companies made, such as tractors and even a helicopter prototype. Built in 1994, the creation of the Ferruccio Lamborghini Museum was financed with settlement money paid by Chrysler (then the owner of Automobili Lamborghini) after it lost a trademark battle with Tonino Lamborghini. The court ruled Tonino Lamborghini can use the Tonino Lamborghini name and the fighting bull emblem on any product ex

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Automotive News Europe - February 16, 2009

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