Blazer expected to revitalise Opel's image

Blazer expected to revitalise Opel's image

By Russell Williamson

General Motors Buana Indonesia expects its new Opel Blazer will boost its brand image and re-establish the marque in Indonesia.

Opel has had a checkered history in Indonesia, with the former distributors and manufacturers, Garmak Motors, having been set up by the government and run with little thought for image promotion or long-term goals.

Thus Opel's image has suffered at the hands of poor after sales service and, consequently, a bad reputation for reliability and quality.

However, since General Motors bought 60 percent of the company and established General Motors Buana Indonesia in 1993, it has attempted to re-establish itself as a viable volume player by investing heavily in manufacturing facilities, dealerships and customer relations.

Although the company has been selling the Vectra and smaller Optima sedans for the past two years, with the biggest sales coming in the sedan substitute and the van and station wagon market, the Blazer should provide a turning point for the company.

Last year's total combined sales of the Optima and Vectra reached 720 units. However, since it was first displayed at the Gaikindo show last year, the Blazer had notched up 1400 pre- launch orders.

According to Opel's director of sales and marketing for Indonesia, Terry Johnsson, the Rp 70 million Blazer will offer a quality, technologically advanced, alternative to the volume- selling Toyota Kijang.

"We have positioned the Blazer in between the very expensive jeeps and as an alternative to the upmarket Kijangs and Panthers," Johnsson said.

Under the hood is a four cylinder double overhead camshaft 2.2 liter 16 valve engine which generates maximum power of 138 hp at 5,600 rpm and peak torque of 20.5 Kgm at 3800 rpm.

Drive is via the rear wheels through a five speed manual transmission with front independent suspension and leaf springs on the rear.

Braking power comes from ventilated disks on the front and drum brakes with an antilock braking system on the rear.

The antilock braking system ensures better steering control under potential skid situations.

Other safety features include child security locks on the rear doors, high mounted stop lamp, collapsible steering column and four side impact bars located in the front doors.

Inside, the vehicle is well equipped with air conditioning, power windows and mirrors, a Blaupunkt radio cassette player and central locking.

An overhead console contains reading lights for front and rear passengers, compass, outside temperature and sunglasses holder while a triple DC power outlet is provided for mobile phone, laptop computer or other office equipment.

Cloth trim seating accommodates five adults with an optional third row two child seat.

The Indonesian Blazer is the first General Motors has produced for right-hand drive. It is built in its Bekasi factory which has been significantly upgraded.

This factory is expected to produce about 6,000 Blazers in its first year, rising to about 10,000 annual capacity thereafter.

General Motors has spent US$110 million on refitting its plant at Bekasi, including building a state of the art paint facility.

Johnsson said the paint shop had even attracted the interest of a number of local European car assemblers who may consider out-sourcing their paintworks to Opel.

The Blazer is sourced from the United States in kit form with local components, including body panels, making up about 40 percent of the vehicle.

The 2.2 liter Family II engine is presently sourced through Opel from Holden Engine Company in Australia, although this is expected to be assembled locally by the end of the year.

The Blazer can run on either leaded petrol or the environmentally responsible unleaded fuel which was introduced by the state-run oil company Pertamina in August last year.

Opel's other vehicles are also able to run on unleaded fuel without any modification, amplifying the company's attitude towards improving its environmental record.

Opel has also addressed other environmental issues, with all synthetic parts being labeled for ease of recycling, no use of asbestos in brake or clutch linings, Cadmium-free paint is used in the paint shop and the installation of only chloroflourocarbon-free air conditioning systems.

The air conditioning system uses the new hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant 134a which contains less ozone depleting properties than the CFC R12 refrigerant previously used.

While these environmental features may help improve the brand's image with the environmentally conscious, the company is also aiming to improve its customer relations to help lift the profile of the company.

With more reliable vehicles and improved customer relations and after sales service, return business will improve, and as Opel executives are hopeful, so should the reputation of the company.

To help this along the company has employed dealer training and customer relations approaches similar to those employed by General Motors' Saturn brand in the United States.

With its customer-focused operations Saturn has become one of the biggest selling cars in the U.S.

While many dealers in Indonesia have traditionally jammed as many cars into a showroom as possible with little room to actually appraise cars, the new approach by Opel and others like Chrysler is sure to make showrooms much more customer oriented.

This means fewer vehicles but more space to view, walk around, talk to the sales staff and assess the vehicle.

This customer focus will also see General Motors Buana Indonesia introduce finance packages through its credit firm General Motors Acceptance Corporation.

General Motors Acceptance Corporation will have on-line connection with dealers to allow credit or finance packages to be individually tailored to suit the customer or company.