GM to drop Chevy brand in Europe to focus on Opel

General Motors will drop the Chevrolet brand in Europe by the end of 2015 after it failed to build a significant market share, and focus instead on its Opel and Vauxhall marques in a drive to return to profit on the continent.

The world’s second-biggest carmaker behind Japan’s Toyota said today the decision would result in one-off charges of up to $1 billion, but it should lead to production, marketing and distribution savings.

Relaunched in Europe in 2005, Chevrolets were supposed to compete at the budget end of the market with the likes of South Korea’s Hyundai, Volkswagen’s Skoda and Renault’s Dacia.

But the brand, by far General Motors’ biggest in its home US market, failed to make much headway as its largely rebadged South Korean-made Daewoo cars struggled against rivals, some of which are customised for European markets.

Hurt also by a brutal downturn in European demand, Chevrolet responded by slashing prices and introducing more upmarket models. But that put it on collision course with Opel and Vauxhall, leaving Chevy’s sales making little progress at around 200,000 cars a year. – (Reuters)