12:24 am, March 17, 2011
VAUXHALL’S new Antara is a second chance for the maker in the SUV market, says brand manager Simon Prior.
Speaking exclusively to Car Dealer at the launch of the Antara in Scotland, Prior revealed that the previous Antara ‘didn’t meet’ Vauxhall’s expectations and the new car is charged with changing that.
‘Although the Antara isn’t the biggest volume selling car we have, it’s still important that we are in the SUV market,’ said Prior. ‘It paves a way for people to recognise Vauxhall can build SUVs and will do so in the future. We have another car coming in 2012 which is going to be a smaller and more youthful Antara.’
It’s a second chance for the brand too. ‘The previous Antara didn’t meet our expectations. It sold around 1,000 units per year which is a very small number,’ said Prior. ‘In some ways it kept our foot in the door, and has led us to the new model which we estimate will sell 3,000 units a year – and that will grow over the next two years. The new Antara is a second chance for us.’
On why Chevrolet had made a success of the Antara’s sister car, the Captiva, Prior replied: ‘We didn’t push Antara as hard as we could have done. The Captiva sold more because it had a cheap petrol model, and had seven seats. It was Chevrolet’s MPV.’
