Why is vauxhall not called opel

Since the early s, Vauxhall cars have been more or less identical to Opel but just branded differently. Whereas a high proportion of models made in Britain are exported overseas and rebadged as Opel. GM has kept Vauxhall in Britain "because it is woven into the fabric of British motoring history," says a company spokesman, who points out that it is the country's oldest surviving carmaker.

It built its first car in and continued to make vehicles throughout both world wars. GM Europe employs more than 38, people. On top of that, Matthias Holweg, scientific adviser to the Automotive Council, says that every car plant job supports about seven and a half jobs in the wider supply chain.

Reports suggest PSA Group will guarantee the production of the Vauxhall Astra at Ellesmere Port, which is due to run until , and the Vivaro van in Luton, which is expected to be made until Following these production runs, however, there has been no comment on the medium- and long-term future of the plants. Cars sales have been robust in the UK. According to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, new car registrations rose by 1.

While GM purchased Vauxhall in taking over production and the running of the company, it was not until four years later that this American giant decided to buy out the German company Opel. Since this time the two companies, their dealers and workers were intertwined, producing cars that were practically identical in terms of design and build. Opel cars are common all across Europe and are regarded to be GM's strongest European brand.

However, the Vauxhall Company have always rejected a name change for the sake of homogenisation, fiercely clinging to their own identity as a British manufacturer. That said nearly all models produced by both companies have been almost the same, just with different names and slightly different styling. One example being the Opel Kadett, which in Britain was labelled the Astra.

The latter name was seemingly more popular as the both companies have now adopted it for the most modern variant.

That said within Britain there were Opel dealers in operation, selling practically identical models to those of Vauxhall. This however changed in the late seventies and early eighties when GM made the decision to faze out the Opel dealers within the UK, the last Opel sale in the UK being in Opel cars do however continue to be sold in Ireland, as the reverse of the closure process happened in this country.

Vauxhall dealers were shut or simply taken over by Opel during the eighties. The reason behind such a move was duplication and GM simply making competition for themselves.

Today both companies market cars with the same names and design although the prefix naturally differs. Another sister of both Vauxhall and Opel is Holden, predominantly operating in Australia.

The European market is a fragmented one made up of several countries, and it is dominated by European brands, such as the three major German manufacturers BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. There were other factors that hampered the automaker in the region, such as the financial crisis as well as an ever tightening regulatory regime around emissions and fuel economy.

The move was risky. So in all actuality, it was Vauxhall who joined GM first and Opel second. Vauxhall stopped car production during the Second World War and started making the Churchill tank instead.

Some tanks were built by Vauxhall alone, and most of them proved to be reliable and durable. After the Second World War production of passenger cars continued, with Vauxhall building and designing almost all of its models right up until s.

Then, troubles hit home, and they hit hard. It was at this time that GM decided Vauxhall had to implement Opel-built products and rebadge them as their own, in an effort to save the company.