The launch of three new cars in the coming year, the new Astra, Corsa and a city car widely expected to see the rebirth of the Viva, plus the integration of the OnStar connectivity system across the range, is hoped to inject customer excitement into the brand.
Tozer added: “We want to turn a brand that was challenged into a brand that is challenging.”
Simplifying the brand’s offering is also paramount to making it more accessible to new customers, said Tozer.
“We are throwing away the complexity of the range and just on the derivative list we’ve cut it down by a third. It got out of control and we are knocking that on the head and making it all simpler.
There is nothing wrong with the cars or the prices and we are taking the brand on in terms of communication to the market and then work with the network and fleet customers on moving the metal.”
He says the brand’s offerings can be targeted on the Middle England customer in the same way as some retail shopping chains.
Tozer explained: “Where we are with Corsa and Astra, if these are cars for Middle England in the same way as Next is for Middle England, then the one thing about Vauxhall it can be for all.
“I think our story can be as simple as quality, value and British. It means it just needs to be woven into our fabric as we are woven into the fabric of Britain. It won’t be flag-waving with Austin Mini Metros driving along the White Cliffs of Dover!
“We are also about value but not in the sense of Kia and Hyundai. Yet you look at their price points today and they are no different from ours when they weren’t some five years ago, when they were more like Dacia. So I think we have to recapture the term ‘value’ from the cheap end of the market.”
He said there have been serious failings of strategy in the past that will now be addressed.
“I think the model names, the Astra, the Corsa, are understood more than the brand itself and if you asked the people out on the street ‘what do you think of Vauxhall?’ you’d get a myriad of different answers. It’s a bit of a promo brand, one that’s been pushed into the market with not a lot of pull involved. That’s sad because there are a lot of very good cars there and we’ve built platforms to build on those strengths and that’s been down to a lack of strategy.”
More on Tim Tozer
Read more about Tozer’s plans for the Vauxhall brand here
