Opel is to launch a new version of its popular 50/50 finance offer to appeal mainly to SSIA savers looking to buy a new car in the New Year.
The offer allows Opel buyers to pay half the price of their new car, which includes the value of their trade-in, in early 2007 and pay the remainder 24 months later in January 2009, with no interest or payments in between.
The move is part of a wider initiative by Opel to increase sales across its range. Two years ago the company committed itself to increasing its market share - something it is achieving - and it is now poised to become Ireland's fourth favourite marque, knocking Nissan down to fifth.
At the beginning of this year, Opel introduced a similar 50/50 offer, which accounted for almost half of all new Opels bought on a finance scheme.
This, along with strong demand for the Astra - sales of which are up over 28 per cent on last year - and the Zafira MPV, which is the number one best seller in its segment, helped the company achieve a 7.8 per cent share of the new car market.
This puts it just 130 units behind Nissan in the Irish sales charts - something Opel achieved despite cutting the number of cars it sold into the short-term rental fleet by 500.
Next year, with the new high volume Corsa in the showrooms and the attractive 50/50 offer, Opel expects sales to rise.
"We would certainly see fourth place as our target next year," says Opel Ireland MD, Dave Sheeran. "And we will be looking to reduce the gap between us and Volkswagen which is in third place."
However, there have been failures, not least the high powered OPC (Opel Performance Centre) versions of the Zafira and Meriva MPVs.
While the Astra OPC has sold as well as predicted - over 75 of the high-powered Astra have already left the showrooms this year - Opel has struggled to sell the performance versions of its family MPVs. According to Sheeran, fewer than five units of each model have found homes.
Next year, Opel will add a performance Corsa OPC to its range. "If there is a market in Ireland for these performance cars, it is the Corsa, Astra and Vectra. However, our policy is if it is available, then we will offer it," explains Sheeran. Although he admits that the future of the Zafira and Meriva OPC here is doubtful. It is probable they will only be available as special order vehicles in 2007.