"The Irish Car Market held up very well in 2002 with the latest figures showing the market down by a mere 5.5 per cent," said Tony Carey (Opel Ireland).
"The figures confirm the underlying strength of the economy and we are confident that the market for next year will be similar to this year.
"We at Opel had a difficult year in 2002 in terms of market share. The timing of the start of sales of the new Vectra was the biggest single factor impacting on our market share. Almost 60 per cent of the annual industry registrations were achieved by the end of April.
"The Vectra segment of the market accounts for 25 per cent of the market and we could not fully participate due to the new Vectra having been launched in June. We had a very successful year with Zafira, which is the market leader in its sector.
"The dealer network restructuring is underway. The number of dealer contracts will be reduced.
"Despite this reduction it is our intention to maintain the same number of retail outlets thereby improving the sales network and its profitability for dealers and value proposition for customers.
"We go into 2003 with a very positive outlook. The year will be very exciting for us with the launch next spring of two exciting additions to our range - the Meriva and the Signum. Already Meriva has been well received, and months before its arrival it has won the MPV design award from the Insitute of Engineers.
"Additionally, our market-leading Zafira will get an enhancement in early spring.
"We haven't forgotten our regular models either. This month we launched two option-packed models, Corsa and Astra NJoy at very attractive pricing. We go into January with a full line-up of Vectras including the sporty GTS, and the introduction of the 1.6 engine at an extremely competitive €22,950. The car achieved fourth place out of 43 nominations for Irish Car of the Year 2003 and already we have a healthy volume of orders for the new year."
Tony Carey is business development director of Opel Ireland