The New Year could hardly have started out better for Opel. Last month sales grew by over seven per cent in Europe; more than 110,000 orders have already been received for the new Opel Corsa and the brand has won an array of awards since the beginning of the year.
The influx of prizes started right at the turn of the year: in their Auto Test Winner in Green competition, the environmental institute Ökotrend and the trade magazine Auto Test selected the Zafira Tourer 1.6 CNG ecoFlex the most environmentally friendly vehicle in the van segment for the third year in a row.
The next accolade came at the Detroit Motor Show: for the second year running, Opel Group CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann was able to accept a Connected Car Award for the digital connectivity of the company’s vehicles. Opel won the Pioneer Award for especially trendsetting innovations with Opel OnStar, the comprehensive carefree package of connected safety, high-class mobility services and progressive information technology.
In Stuttgart, Peter Christian Küspert, Opel’s vice president, Sales and Aftersales, again accepted another trophy for the Opel Adam: for the second year in a row, Opel’s individualisation champion won the Readers’ Choice Award The Best Cars of respected magazine auto motor und sport in the mini-car category.
Then Opel Marketing Officer Tina Müller was on her way to Berlin for the next awards ceremony, where the new Opel Corsa was named Most Sensible Car 2015.
At the Value Champion 2015 awards, two Opel models took number one spots. The Opel Adam won the small car category. In the compact van category, the Opel Zafira Tourer (52.4 per cent) also took first place .
Opel also swept the advertising Grand Prix with one gold and two silver medals. The Opel advertising campaign “Umparken im Kopf” won the Grand Prix from Econ Forum’s Jahr der Werbung (Year of Advertising) for the best campaign of the year. The coveted prize went to Opel’s lead agency Scholz & Friends. “Umparken im Kopf” also won two silver medals in the categories Out of Home and Print.
Opel also received another award in Leipzig: at the Third Forum Automotive Logistics, Michael Scholl, Director Supply Chain at Opel, accepted the 2015 VDA Logistics Award. It is the eighth time that the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) has presented the award to a company for its intelligent logistics system that can serve as a model for other players in the automotive industry.
In addition, Opel hit the ground running outside of Germany: in Romania, Greece and Serbia the new Corsa won the renowned Car of the Year Award. In the UK, the Corsa took the Highland Car of the Year award and in Spain, the Corsa was named Car of the Year in TV in the small car category. The prize is awarded by the Más Que Coches program of Tele 5. In Denmark the Opel bestseller won Best Car in Class from the trade magazine Bilmagasinet. Meanwhile the Cascada is getting a lot of attention in France: in the La Référence vote conducted by La Revue Automobile, the Cascada stood out in the cabriolet category with its design and the quality of its engines. Furthermore, the new Opel Vivaro was named Fleet Car of the Year in Austria.
The Croatian capital Zagreb also honoured the new Opel Corsa as the Best Buy Car of Europe for 2015. The Autobest expert jury is made up of leading motoring journalists from 15 central and eastern European countries. Comprising around 300 million people, the award is extremely popular and highly respected in this market. Only cars with a compelling price-performance ratio can win this title, because next to classic vehicle characteristics, the jury also carefully considers maintenance costs and dealers’ range of services. Ultimately, the best deal for the normal, average customer is victorious – and the Opel Corsa proved to be unbeatable. This was the Corsa’s second consecutive win after the previous generation also secured the coveted title – unprecedented in the history of Autobest.
Pop over to the Opel showroom at Cars International in Mdina Road, Qormi, to see what models are in stock or book a test drive by sending an email to opelsales@cil.com.mt or by calling 2269 2122.