For much of its recent past, Vauxhall seemed forever trapped in a cycle of discounting its cars and distress selling at the end of the month, activities that undermine any notion of a brand seeking a positive image and the ‘upper mainstream’ positioning it desired. Then it became part of PSA in 2017 and things began to change.
Back then, the average price of its cars sold, once adjusted for relative vehicle line ups and specification, sat six to seven percentage points behind Volkswagen. Now the firm says it sits 2.3% ahead in the year to date and it expects to end this year 2.5-3% ahead.
In that time, the average Vauxhall has changed from an Astra costing around £16-17,000 and with monthly payments in the low £200s, to being a mid-range Mokka for between £25-27k, the average monthly payment between £400-450.
While Vauxhall’s sales have declined overall in that time, its retail share of the market of 5.5-6% has remained steady, the decline coming in the likes of cheap fleet deals that also armed residuals at the same time.
Under PSA (and now Stellantis), Vauxhall took the bold step to increase its pricing to head towards the brand it wanted to be, but without the overall product quality to support it. Yet with the much-improved Corsa, Mokka and Astra leading the charge of this new Vauxhall, the products have arrived and are performing well, Vauxhalls being bought for reasons other than simply being a cheap deal from a local dealer that always had availability.
Wait times in retail sit at around 100 days, and closer to one year in the fleet market due to the popularity of its electric vans; before there were no wait times. “It’s unprecedented to go to the end of the month relying on logistics [to get cars registered], not pre-registered,” says Phil Douglass, Vauxhall’s marketing director. “People are now focused on getting cars from the port to retailers, not distress selling.”
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