General Motors favours local heroes

Vauxhall, Opel and other General Motors companies will continue to develop cars to suit local conditions rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach.

This is in contrast to arch-rival Ford, which has developed a 'One Ford' policy under CEO Alan Mulally, under which cars are developed with global sales in mind.

'Where do we develop our vehicles? We do it always in the region where they will be sold,' said Rita Forst, Vauxhall's head of engineering.

'You can change a lot of things by specification, but in the end you have to understand what Vauxhall and Opel stands for.

'We stand for German engineering, high quality and flexibility. That means there has to be autonomy (in the different regions). Our mainstream cars will always be designed and engineered "at home", but even with niche cars that are brought in from outside (such as Chevrolets from America and Korea) my people are involved at an early stage to ensure that they have the right DNA.'