Stellantis’s UK boss recently reassured us that Vauxhall has a future and reaffirmed that it legitimately is a British car brand – things that executives have had to do repeatedly for the half century since it was effectively subsumed into German manufacturer Opel.
Vauxhall launched its first car in 1903, was bought by America’s General Motors in 1925 and in the 1960s became the UK’s third-largest car maker, with its old Luton home and new plant up at Ellesmere Port.
Opel made its first car in 1899 and became a GM subsidiary in 1929. Post-war it grew to become Germany’s second-largest car maker, with a production total nearly five times higher than Vauxhall’s in 1969.
Although both were owned by GM and shared parts, they were distinct from each other.
Indeed, they operated in many of the same markets: Vauxhall was one of the UK’s major exporters (some 83,000 cars went as far afield as Ghana, Canada and Malaysia in 1968) and Opel was permitted to make a post-war return to the UK market in 1967, as the nation negotiated its entry into the European Common Market and Brits bought ever more foreign cars, and as “GM felt that Opel products do not duplicate the Vauxhall range too markedly”.
It all started to go badly wrong for Vauxhall as the 1970s dawned. Ford was dominating sales more than ever before, while the character of Luton’s creations was best summed up by respected engineer Ralph Broad, who said: “How Opel can get it so right and Vauxhall can get it so wrong I shall never understand.”
Productivity was terrible, too: Opel was Europe’s best performer in this regard, and Vauxhall was operating at just 59% of its level, losing production to rising costs and labour disputes.
Although that problem was endemic: Ford in Dagenham was at 69% of Opel’s level, compared with 95% in Germany, while Leyland and Chrysler were at just 44% and 41%.
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Naturally, Vauxhall’s losses were soaring, too: from about £2 million in 1969 to almost £9.5m in 1970.
It was an easy decision for GM, then, to consolidate developmental operations in Germany.
So when the group’s first global platform was ready, responsibility for European ‘T-car’ development went to Opel, and the 1975 Vauxhall Chevette, although made in the UK, was merely a renosed and rebadged Opel Kadett – rendering the 1972 Victor the final genuine Vauxhall.
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Vauxhall was once a brand sold across the common wealth they where seen as good quality reliable vehicles the Americans destroyed that image with cost cutting and poor designs the Americans hated to successful British brands the who aim since 1925 was to bring the UK down this became more intense after ww2 as the USA saw the British commonwealth as a threat to the usa. This political element was also present in GM.
The USA had huge amount of money invested in Germany and so the removed investment in Vauxhalls and lessened it Global foot print forcing Opel on to the various vauxhall markets. Then in 1970 they stopped Vauxhall independence all together. And Vauxhall became a badge engineer brand. Butvthenkfully the British held firm and made it clear if they removed Vauxhall brand then oeople would not buy Opel.
I wish vauxhall could have its independence back as it designs and interiors where much more interesting than genetic Opels. If stellantis was brave there still a market for vauxhall globally but it would mean developing a new British design team using vauxhall heritage. The V grill the Griffin beak
This article is overdue. Every time I'd read an article over the years that mentioned Vauxhall being British, often in Autocar, I felt like the quick history lesson (that this article represents) was needed. There is a vanishingly small amount of "Vauxhall" left now that the IBC Luton factory has also closed (after the main Luton plant closed in 2002), all we have is a van plant at Ellesmere Port, the former home of UK Astra production. We lost all that design, engineering, prototyping and testing capability way back before the T-car came out in 1975. Good, high paying, technical and creative jobs (plus the requisite "back-office" roles like procurement and finance) that were never going to come back.
In the context of what else was going on in the UK car industry in those days (and BTL commenters JUST LOVE to union-bash, and bash the reputation/styling/propensity for rust of BL products of the time, so it doesn't bear repeating here) the significance of the loss of Vauxhall as an independent creator of cars was overlooked, and has been ever since.
Quite whoever it is (presumably in Germany) that has the rather pointless job of adapting the front end styling of every Opel design that is produced, to make them "Vauxhall" must wonder how long the farce will continue into the future.
Likely wasn't badged Opel as in post-war UK it may not have done well with the demographic it was aimed at, and wanted something a bit more homely sounding for the UK market. Especially if they were going to compete with Ford.