I was pleased to see that Vauxhall has now sold more than 100,000 EVs – with the Mokka EV its biggest seller, accounting for some 26,000 of those sales. This is great news all-round. 

But I do still wonder about the Vauxhall brand. Not Opel, I should clarify. Because these are one and the same thing, after all. Opel is the European badge for Vauxhall (or perhaps I should say that Vauxhall is the British version of Opel?!) 

But if we can put that emotional response aside and consider Vauxhall alongside Opel from the perspective of parent manufacturer, Stellantis, I can see how it might make sense to simply badge everything as an Opel – even in the UK. 

For a start, it’d no doubt save some costs. Just think how much money they’d save on not having to redesign the Griffin logo every few years, for a start. And manufacturing all the Vauxhall badges. ​

Perhaps more persuasive is that the Vauxhall brand doesn’t seem to hold as much sway with consumers as it once did. I’m not quite sure why, if I’m honest. A decade or two of slightly flabby and unimaginative cars (with a few notable exceptions, of course) from the late ‘90s onwards probably didn’t do it any favours. 

‘But why not just fix the Vauxhall brand image?!” I hear you cry. Good question. The problem there is that Vauxhall is a Stellantis brand. And while the parts-sharing mega-fest between all of the Stellantis marques (which include Citroen, Peugeot and Fiat, among many more) has brought some benefits, it’s also resulted in a lot of cars that feel quite… Samey. 

Stellantis itself has clearly realised that this isn’t helping, as displayed no less than nine concept cars at this year’s Paris show, nearly all of which demonstrated how the brands are now focussing on heritage to help differentiate and elevate them. Hence, the Citroen 2CV, Fiat Multiplay, Peugeot E-T16 and more. 

Notably, at the pre-show evening, the Opel STX rolled up the catwalk (would that be carwalk, in this case?) to great fanfare and music celebrating the Opel brand’s German heritage. And we were then told how Opel was going to emphasis its German roots and engineering prowess, and all things Germanic. 

Which is excellent. But where does that leave Vauxhall? How does Stellantis make Vauxhall – a famous and historic British brand - more Vauxhall-ey, while also making Opel more German? 

Nope, I don’t know either. I wish I did, because I’ll say it again; I really like Vauxhall. It makes some properly good, hearty and rather handsome family cars that are great value – and many of which sell pretty well. 

But sitting and watching Stellantis put a lot of money, music and tiny canapes into telling the world how brilliantly Germanic Opel is – without so much as a whisper or nod of acknowledgment for Vauxhall? Well, it feels like even Stellantis has given up trying to work out what to do with its British brand.   

And that’s a terrible shame, because I think Vauxhall could have been truly great again, given the right stewardship and budget. Just a couple of years ago I’d have suggested that Vauxhall has the sort of brand heritage that most Chinese makers would pay handsomely for.

But is it too late, now, to make Vauxhall a stand-out brand again? To bring back its independent character? I fear it may be.

We’re obviously in an age where Chinese manufacturers are challenging European brands like never before. And we’re now at a stage where BYD, Jaecoo and Omoda are routinely among the best selling cars in the UK, so they seem to be doing just fine without that heritage. 

And without something super-desirable and unique – like the Citroen 2CV concept, or Renault’s excellent 5, 4 and Twingo – on the horizon for Vauxhall, it seems adrift. 

All of which leads me to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, it would be better to simply lose the Vauxhall brand and badge it Opel. Start fresh in the UK, and give Opel a proper revival across Europe at the same time. 

Interestingly, the long-serving boss of design for Opel-Vauxhall, Mark Adams, who designed the Astra, Corsa and Mokka (and who I'm chatting to in this picture), has just been replaced by Citroen design boss Pierre Leclercq – who designed that awesome 2CV concept that Ginny went to see.

Rumour has it that this is all part of a wider shake-up by Stellantis’ overarching design boss (the boss of the other design bosses…) Gilles Vidal. So, it’ll be interesting to see where things go from here - for Vauxhall, and the rest of the company's abundance of brands.

Oh, and if Opel is looking for a new model to start its revival - that electric Manta concept car from back in 2021 was too cool to have not made production. I’d start there. 

The designer of the Citroen 2CV has moved to Vauxhall-Opel in a recent Stellantis design shake-up