GM gets behind Vauxhall & Opel by dropping Chevrolet in Europe

General Motors has decided to concentrate its marketing focus on the more upmarket Vauxhall and Opel brands in Europe by dropping Chevrolet.

GM has seemed to be fighting a battle with itself in the UK and Europe by marketing a broadly similar range of cars under the Vauxhall and Opel badges in the UK and Opel and Chevrolet in Europe.

But unlike the VW Group, which manages to offer very similar cars from VW, SEAT and Skoda and create a different customer base, GM seems to have failed to make the marketplace work with Opel and Vauxhall competing with Chevrolet. So Chevrolet are on their way out in Europe.

By 2015 – with the exception of cars like the Corvette and Camaro – Chevrolet models like the Captiva, Trax and Volt, which are offered by Vauxhall as the Ampera, Antara and Mokka, will be dropped and Chevrolet will no longer be a mainstream offering in the UK or Europe.

That will mean the end of Chevrolet’s dealer networks in the UK and Europe, but as many of those dealers are also Vauxhall or Opel dealers Chevrolet customers should still find a support network, and GM are promising parts availability for the next ten years.

GM are obviously hoping they’ll keep their Chevrolet customers in the UK and Europe and see them migrating to Vauxhall or Opel, where they’ll probably end up spending a few bob more for a similar car.

Dropping the Chevrolet badge won’t be cheap for GM – and what they’ll do with their Korean production, where most European Chevrolets are built, isn’t know – but it is a sensible move.