By Justin Lee

CHEVROLET is American, Opel is German and Saab is Swedish, but they all belong to General Motors, the American group that happens to be the largest car company in the world.

While Opel and Saab are quite-well established here, Chevrolet was just re-launched locally two years ago. How do the various brands avoid clashing over the same buyers?

“With Chevrolet here, we are moving Opel slightly upmarket to the ‘entry premium’ segment, while Saab retains its position in the ‘premium’ segment”, Ali Pandir, managing director of General Motors Overseas Distribution Corporation (GMODC), told CarBuyer at the Motorshow. “Cadillac is our ‘luxury’ brand, but at the moment there are no plans to launch the brand in Singapore”.

The upward repositioning of Opel began with the new Vectra, which was launched a year ago, and has since been followed up with the innovative Meriva and the new Astra.

But doesn’t the fact that the Vectra and Saab 9-3 share many mechanical components make it difficult to differentiate Opel from Saab?

“No, both brands are targeted at different customers. Their profiles are different and each brand is marketed separately,” says Mr Pandir. “Both brands are sold by the Eurokars Group, and Mr Kwee is very brand conscious and he knows how to keep them unique. A good example is the stand at the Motorshow, both Saab and Opel share the same stand, but both brands have separate identities.”

Opel lacks a flagship model, however. The Omega, a large saloon once on sale here, has been killed off. Furthermore, the luxury Signum model sold in Europe has yet to make an apperance in Singapore.

“Singapore is a sedan car market, and as the Signum is a large five-door car, we do not see it selling in very large numbers here,” says Mr Pandir. “At the moment there is no replacement for the Omega, but a car based on the Insignia concept car may fill its position in a couple of years time.”

Meanwhile, the Zafia remains in showrooms here as the last of the ‘old-school’ Opels. According to GM, however, a replacement is about a year away.

“The new Zafira will probably be launched in late 2005”, according to Mr. Pandir. As part of Opel’s move upmarket however, it will no longer be sourced from GM’s Rayong plant in Thailand, but will be importedfrom Europe.

GM is even serious enough about pushing the Opel brand here to rework some models mechanically, in order to make them more acceptable to buyers.

The semi-automatic Easytronic transmissions in the Meriva, new Astra and new Tigra are good examples of this. Some would-be buyers find them unacceptably jerky. The result? More conventional but smoother automatic transmissions are being developed, according to Mr Pandir. He also mentioned that a four-door notchback Astra was in the works.

Still, GM is astute enough to avoid pushing every one of its brands here at all costs. Knowing what doesn’t work is clearly as important as knowing what does. That explains Cadillac’s absence from Singapore, for instance.

Mr Pandir readily admits that the brand might be too niche for our market, and the number of cars that might be sold would be too small for any importer to justify. Between the Chevrolet, Opel and Saab brands, however, GM’s dealers here are likely to have their hands full enough.