Opel says Auf Wiedersehen to Australia
General Motors’ German car brand Opel is hitting reverse on its local operations, citing tension between sales and the need to invest in advertising.
Opel has been in market for less than a year with advertising partner M&C Saatchi Melbourne launching the brand’s debut campaign ‘Guten Tag’ (below) in September last year.
Michelle Lang, head of marketing and PR for Opel Australia, told B&T: “M&C Saatchi have been wonderful, creative partners for us, and we will continue working with them in winding down our operations.” M&C Saatchi declined to comment.
Lang declined to comment on the future of the brand’s five-member marketing team which is based in Melbourne.
“Any movements relating to any head office staff are confidential, and in truth it's too soon to comment further on this, given that we only found out about the decision last week.”
Opel announced its closure on Friday via a release which said Opel Australia will “cease operations and will commence winding down its network immediately”.
“In order to be competitive, Opel Australia would need to follow recent competitor price reductions, and significantly reposition the price of its core volume models.
“These changes, combined with the continued investment required to ensure brand awareness, result in a business which is not financially viable for any of the parties involved.”
Opel forecast sales of 15,000 in the brand’s first three years in Australia, according to reports. But only 1,530 Opel vehicles have been sold to June 2013.
In the release Lang said Opel is now working with Holden “regarding the potential for future Holden-badged niche product, in order to ascertain if opportunities for individual carlines exist”.
Please login with linkedin to comment
Latest News
Outdo The Government’s Vaccine Ads And Have A Jab At B&T’s Good AZ Gold Adland Challenge
B&T's calling on adland to get the nation vaccinated. Admittedly, that excludes conspiracy theorists & flat earthers.
QUT Business School Launches “Make it Real” Via BCM Group
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Business School has launched a new brand platform, developed by BCM Group, built to encourage prospective students to upskill, invest in themselves, and nurture their inner entrepreneur.
Making A Name For Your Brand In A New Market: Tips For Launching A Campaign Globally
Jacqueline Gonzales [featured image] is the Head of Global Marketing at Squarespace. In this piece, she shares her best pieces of advice for launching a campaign globally. It’s estimated that we see between 6,000 to 10,000 ads every single day. In today’s digital landscape we’re constantly bombarded by so many different brand messages from every […]
Sky News Pays Sarah Hanson-Young $40K In Damages
Sarah Hanson-Young now Australia's most prolific serial litigant. And, it has to be said, she's got bloody good lawyers.
Victoria Misses The Mark With “Mean” Border Permit Ads
Queensland now considering adding "and just f@ck off" to its famous tourism tag "beautiful one day, perfect the next".
Optus And Uber Team Up For Mobile Phone Delivery Service
You can now get a phone delivered in an hour! Perfect for the bone idle or coke dealers getting hacked by the fuzz.
Three Ways To Stay Connected To Your Customers In A Virtual World
It's top tips on staying connected to customers during lockdown! Unless you hate them. Then that's a whole other matter.
Parents’ Voice Condemns “Sugary Drinks And Unhealthy Food Marketing” During The Olympics
Parents call out unhealthy food Olympics marketing. No one concerned about crotch grabbing in the Greco-Roman wrestling.
Brazil’s Olympic Skateboarding Fairy Stars In Magical New Work From Nike
Thanks to the Olympics, all of a sudden skateboarding's cool again. Arguably good news for X-rays & plaster casts, too.
B&T’s Tokyo Olympics Recap: Tributes, Singing & Tweets
The Olympics again prove the world's just a big global family. Albeit a squabbling, semi-racist, passive-aggressive one.
Radio Ratings Set To Be Delayed A Week Due To Lockdowns
Ben Fordham set to dose-up on the Temazepam and warm milk, as an extra week of sleepless nights awaits radio ratings.
“Is He Hung Like A Horse?” Adam Driver Morphs Into A Centaur For Bizarre Burberry Fragrance Ad & The Internet’s Exploded!
Star Wars star becomes a centaur in Burberry ad & the jokes are writing themselves. Well, crude penis jokes, that is.
Samsung Ad Chief: Understanding The New TV Viewer
Ultimately, will the human thumb grow to resemble a sweet potato given its repeated workout on TV remote controls?
opr To Become Ogilvy PR Again In Latest Rebrand
In further proof you should never attempt a rebrand over a pub session comes opr's return to original Ogilvy name.
The 6am Agency Founder Gillian Fish Takes On Two New Roles
It sounds like 6am Agency founder Gillian Fish will need to get up at 5.30am after taking on two new roles.
WeMoney Launches Community Aiming To Help Lift Aussie Financial Wellness
WeMoney is now not only the place to learn how to budget but a place to improve your financial literacy, with a raft of well-known fin-influencers now making content on the WeMoney platform to teach, share tips, tricks as well as find bargains.
“We’re In Big-Bang Readiness”: Flight Centre To Ramp Up Media Buying Activity
Flight Centre rolls out overly optimistic campaign that doesn't feature typical cheesy actors pretending to be pilots.
Sportsbet Promotes Responsible Gambling With “Take A Sec Before You Bet”
A Sportsbet ad promoting safe gambling was certainly a rough outsider paying around $67.
Alan Jones May Have Gone Too Far: Daily Telegraph Severs Relationship
Gotta hand it to Alan, he's been banned or sacked from every media outlet in the country & is still impeccably tailored.
B&T’s Tokyo Olympics Wrap: Fashion, TikToks & Racism
There's medals for real sporting success, while B&T's Olympic wrap awards the blunders, the foot in mouths & the idiots.
REVEALED: Independent Vaccine Ads Outperform Government Work
Arguably, you need look no further than those utter morons last Saturday to realise Australia's tepid ad vax response.
Acast Announces New Podcast ‘The Elements’
From the audio producer of The Teacher’s Pet comes The Elements, a new Acast Creator Network podcast hosted by Thredbo survivor Stuart Diver. The Elements is a podcast that journeys into the heart of surviving a natural disaster and will be hosted and distributed by the creator-first podcast company Acast as part of the Acast Creator […]
“Disturbing, Irresponsible & Harmful!” Calls For Rebel Wilson’s Afterpay Ad To Be Banned
Calls for Rebel's Afterpay ad to be banned. And throw in the diabolical 'Cats' & 'Pitch Perfect 3' while you're at it.
UnLtd Challenges The Industry To “Step Up Your Mood” In Stepathon Challenge
UnLtd unveils industry stepathon challenge. Admittedly, industry piggyback & leapfrog challenge a no-go at the moment.
Basketballer Labels His Own Nike Signature Shoes As “Trash”
NBA star Kyrie Irving has clearly been reading from the Shane Warne School of how to totally embarrass a major sponsor.
Wednesday TV Wrap: Seven’s News The Gold Medal Performer, As The Olympic Network Leaves Rivals In Its Wake
If you could somehow combine the Olympics, an amateur cookery contest & Lego assembly, would you have the ideal TV show?
Banks Can Fast-Track Digitisation Using Data After Earning Customer’s Trust: Salesforce And Bain & Company Study
Need to be the cleverest person at the next inter-company Zoom meeting? Astound colleagues by stealing freely from here.
Refinery29 Australia Launches With Getty Images Partnership
Refinery29 Australia unveils Getty Images partnership. Sadly, no ceremonial sword, horses or any ribbon cutting either.
Facebook Outlines Its Plans To Create A “Metaverse”
Facebook outlines plans to create a "Metaverse". Apparently, Mark's currently on Tatooine looking for Obi-Wan.
Wai Kwok Promoted To CEO Of Enero’s Orchard, As Andrew Antoniou Departs
Wai Kwok named CEO Of Enero's Orchard and, by all reports, everyone is way cool with the idea.
