Welcome

The General Motors UK and Ireland group includes Vauxhall, Opel, Chevrolet and Saab.

Vauxhall Motors celebrated its Centenary in 2002-2003, having built its first car in London in 1903. The company moved to Luton, Bedfordshire, in 1905, and was acquired by General Motors during 1925. Bedfordshire is now the home to Vauxhall’s head office, the European Customer Care Centre, the Warehouse and our sister company GM Manufacturing Luton, which produces the Vivaro van. Our plant based at Ellesmere Port is considered one of the most modern plants in Europe, currently producing the popular New Astra.

In 2004 Vauxhall Motors sold more than 325 000 cars and 29 000 vans. These sales were achieved with a workforce of almost 4800. In total, GM UK employs a combined workforce of nearly 7350.

There are currently 438 retail sites, compiled of 284 core retailers and a further 172 sales and service satellites.

Network Q is Vauxhall’s high-quality used car programme. Since it was established in 1990 network Q has sold more than 1.25 million vehicles. It has also has won the highly acclaimed title of WhatCar? Best Approved Used Car Programme in 2002 and 2003.

Over the past year, Vauxhall have introduced a number of new models which focus on style and design, innovation and driving excitement. To further the appeal of Vauxhall cars, the VXR range has also been expanded. At present the Vauxhall range consists of the Agila, Corsa, Meriva, New Tigra, New Astra, Astra Sport Hatch, New Vectra , New Signum, Zafira, VX220 and Monaro. The VX220, Monaro and Astra Sport Hatch are also available as VXR editions, and we are soon to release the VXR editions of the Vectra and Zafira.

The Vauxhall van range comprises of the Movano, Vivaro, Combo, Astravan and Corsavan.

Opel Ireland GM has had a presence in the Republic of Ireland with its Opel brand since 1947. The company’s product offering is similar to that of Vauxhall in the UK, with the exception of its Opel Performance Centre (OPC) range of vehicles, which are specifically engineered to offer enhanced performance and driving dynamics to Irish motorists.

Saab Based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, Saab GB has approximately 100 franchised dealers, each offering technical and after-sales support. Annual sales in the UK during 2004 rose by 40 per cent to over 20,200 cars, the highest level since UK sales began in 1960. This made the UK Saab’s biggest European market after Sweden. Saab offers 9-3 Saloon, Sport Wagon and Convertible and the 9-5 Saloon and Estate ranges.

Chevrolet UK (formerly GM Daewoo) joined the GM family in October 2002. As the company enters its third year it is looking forward to an exciting future, creating a common Euopean value brand for GM with a US$ 1 billion investment in five new products and the introduction of diesel engines over the next three years. Chevrolet’s 2005 product range comprises Matiz, Kalos, Tacuma and Lacetti, all aimed at making the company Britain’s leading value car brand.

GM has two manufacturing plants in the UK. GM Manufacturing Luton produces the Vivaro medium sized van for sale under the Vauxhall, Opel, Nissan and Renault brands and in 2004, a record 88.965 units were produced. GM Manufacturing Ellesmere Port is one of Europe’s most modern car plants and produces the New Astra for Vauxhall and Opel. In 2004 the plant produced 147,918 vehicles and over 3.5 million press stampings.

GMUK

You can find out more about all of the members of GMUK & Ireland at the following website addresses:

• Vauxhall: http://www.vauxhall.co.uk
• Saab: http://www.saab.com/
• Chevrolet: http://www.chevrolet.co.uk/
• Opel : http://www.opel.ie
• GMM Luton: http://vauxhall.co.uk/companyInformation/locations/IBCPlantBooklet.pdf

Vauxhall product press releases are all available at: www.vauxhall.co.uk/news.