Inquisition: the man in the Vauxhall hot seat
European industry veteran Stephen Norman is on a mission to restore Vauxhall to former glories and emphasise its deep roots in Britain, but with a streamlined new French-based product line-up
LOST IN THE MAINSTREAM – that’s managing director Stephen Norman’s take on the Vauxhall brand. It’s a slumbering giant of the British car firmament, a badge that everyone has a connection with but few enthusiasts currently yearn for. Blame a steady diet of competent but unremarkable Opels, and some make-do-and-mend musclecar misfits from Australian outpost Holden. It was like General Motors didn’t have its heart in it…
Now Opel-Vauxhall is owned by PSA Groupe, and Norman has moved from running the French brands’ marketing to turning around Vauxhall. Analysts are still in awe of Carlos Tavares’ salvation of PSA, and its new Anglo-German subsidiary has performed a similar Lazarean comeback, lurching from a €179m loss for the last five months of 2017 to a €502m profit for the first six months of 2018. How? ‘Single-mindedness. Not ruthlessness, single-mindedness,’ fires back the 64-year-old industry veteran. The Tavares playbook is being systematically applied: inefficiencies squeezed out by pooling car architectures, purchasing and R&D, boosting productivity, and not giddily discounting cars. ‘In Opel-Vauxhall’s profitability improvements, pricing power is the principal single factor,’ the MD asserts. Vauxhall prices are now just four per cent off Volkswagen’s. Vauxhall is rationalising its retail network, shedding about 80 dealers to boost the remaining outlets’ volume and profitability. A new group-wide parts distribution system will boost efficiencies and revenues, and supercharging Vauxhall’s van market share will swell the coffers too.
But what about the cars? ‘There’s the new Corsa that will come out at the Frankfurt show,’ explains Norman. ‘Based on the same platform, and possibly more important, we will be introducing yet another B-sector SUV. We’re very excited about it.’
Norman is referring to the Mokka X replacement, due in 2020. But why does Vauxhall keep double-parking its small crossovers? ‘I don’t
disagree there’s a degree of overlap between Mokka, Crossland and Grandland,’ he responds. ‘When you look at Peugeot’s 3008 and 5008, those vehicles are more clearly differentiated. You have to remember that PSA only [recently] acquired GM Europe. When we’ve been through a complete product cycle on PSA platforms it will make sense.’
Vauxhall is rolling out a 6 + 3 portfolio: six cars, three vans. Crossland, Corsa, Mokka, Astra, Grandland and Insignia are the chosen ones – PSA is focusing on growing SUV and staple family-car segments. That serves notice on the Viva and Adam city cars for now.
And what about cars for enthusiasts, tapping the spirit of the Lotus Carlton or high-performance VXRs? ‘As the owner of a British Racing Green VX220i, the answer is yes, we will see those cars coming back. But in the second product cycle from 2023.’
Vauxhall has previewed its future design language with the GTX Experimental concept car (see left), an electric coupe-crossover from design chief Mark Adams that surely hints at the replacement Mokka X. ‘The concept shows Vauxhall is able to make sexy-looking cars,’ states Norman. It stoically retains Vauxhall design cues; isn’t the look evolving too slowly? ‘I think Mark would agree with you,’ Norman replies. Surely it’s a design director’s responsibility to push the brand forward? ‘You can see now what Mark is doing and what he’s capable of. The proof is in what’s coming through.’
The new cars will be marketed under Vauxhall’s ‘British brand since 1903’ tagline. Given the company’s French ownership, European R&D and largely non-British assembly, how credible is that line? ‘It’s a fair question. When GM purchased Vauxhall in 1925, it was [still] run as a British company up until the Cavalier in 1982. From then, the Opelisation of the product range lends credibility to your question. But one thing has remained constant, Vauxhall is only for Britain. People would say Mini is a British brand – Vauxhall is more British than that.’
With the Luton factory building vans, the one car assembled here is the Astra at Ellesmere Port. It is subject to 241 voluntary redundancies, to better balance supply and demand. Could Brexit cause the plant to shut altogether? ‘Ellesmere Port does not have to close,’ Norman replies emphatically. Could it theoretically become a righthand-drive plant to serve the British market? ‘It could do. It COULD do.’ Nothing appears certain right now, aside from the Cheshire factory assembling the facelifted Astra from later this year. What happens thereafter will be decided post-Brexit.
In 2019, Norman is gunning to move the needle on market share; his aim is to seize the number two sales slot from VW. ‘This is the contract I have with my employer, to get Vauxhall back to where we think it should be. If you look back over time it has been much bigger but you know the story about its profitability [then]. Now we’re talking about being profitable – both for Vauxhall and for the dealers.’