Possible impact of Opel on Skoda next year

[K1W1]

I didn't realise that the Viva was an Opel design. We had it in NZ as a Vauxhall and I always believed it was a UK designed car. I know it became the Torana here eventually.

[Mountainman]

The first Astra in Australia was a rebadged Nissan Pulsar, the next version was a rebadged Toyota Corolla.

Yes, the first Holden Astra was the 2nd gen Nissan Pulsar rebadged followed by the 3rd gen Pulsar, but then the rebadged 6th gen Toyota Corolla was called the Holden Nova.

[Mountainman]

I didn't realise that the Viva was an Opel design. We had it in NZ as a Vauxhall and I always believed it was a UK designed car. I know it became the Torana here eventually.

And the recent Holden Viva was just a rebadged Daewoo Nubira. Holden certainly knows how to recycle names.

[Inego]

I didn't realise that the Viva was an Opel design. We had it in NZ as a Vauxhall and I always believed it was a UK designed car. I know it became the Torana here eventually.

Redesigned/renamed Kadett A. And yes, Viva became Torana which was then developed in Oz until the all conquering A9X in racing .

[woofy]

How about Holden/Chev calling a small Suzuki a Cruze, and then straight away calling a completely different small sedan the same thing and pretending the other didn't exist.

[Inego]

How about Holden/Chev calling a small Suzuki a Cruze, and then straight away calling a completely different small sedan the same thing and pretending the other didn't exist.

For very, very, very good reasons Cruze Mk 1 could hardly have been more awful.

[dArK5HaD0w]

not everyone wants to be no.1.
skoda does not intend to do that here in oz.
they're quite happy with their current achievements worldwide. the sales they make in aus is simply icing on the cake for vwag.
the amount of units skoda sells in europe, russia, china & india is staggering.
vwag don't care about other brands "taking potential sales" away from skoda in aus.
that goes for vw as well.

holden on the otherhand, would care about other brands, as they don't have any other strong markets overseas.
the likes of mazda, honda, subaru don't have a strong market in europe, russia & india, so they rely on the aus market heavily.
these guys do care, and will put up a fight.

skoda was never intended for the masses in aus, like vw, holden, mazda, etc etc. hence the marketting, service and support has been reflective of that.

end of the day, opel or no opel, skoda is for the "simply clever".
its not for the "sheep minded".

[Inego]

(Torana, Commodore, Barina, Astra, Vectra).

And how did I forget the Camira/Cavalier/Ascona. At least the wagon's tailgate was designed in Australia fro worldwide production, IIRC.

[K1W1]

Redesigned/renamed Kadett A.

Wikipedia is a bit vague on that. The indications from there are that the Viva and Kaddet were co developed rather than one being a redesigned version of the other. It specifically says. "The passing of the Viva marked a significant moment for Vauxhall, as it was the last car to be completely designed by the Luton-based company." Doesn't matter it's just interesting history. Vivas were pretty good little cars in their day we had some HB's as company cars. They were way better than things like the Austin Marina.

[VAG newbie]

not everyone wants to be no.1.
skoda does not intend to do that here in oz.
they're quite happy with their current achievements worldwide. the sales they make in aus is simply icing on the cake for vwag.
the amount of units skoda sells in europe, russia, china & india is staggering.
vwag don't care about other brands "taking potential sales" away from skoda in aus.
that goes for vw as well.

holden on the otherhand, would care about other brands, as they don't have any other strong markets overseas.
the likes of mazda, honda, subaru don't have a strong market in europe, russia & india, so they rely on the aus market heavily.
these guys do care, and will put up a fight.

skoda was never intended for the masses in aus, like vw, holden, mazda, etc etc. hence the marketting, service and support has been reflective of that.

end of the day, opel or no opel, skoda is for the "simply clever".
its not for the "sheep minded".

True. But this could mean bad news for us Skoda owners. If they simply don't care, and such a niche market is taken up by Opel, I am afraid Skoda will pull out of OZ market, and we will be left as orphans.