Disgrace with e-car: Opel disappoints customers

That’s not how it was planned at Opel: The car manufacturer only presented its new Mokka-e electric model in September. Now the group has to row back. While pre-orderers are waiting for their cars, sales contracts are even canceled. GIGA has the background.

Mokka-e causes problems: Opel has to cancel

At first it looked like a success story, now Opel is heading for a disgrace: While entire branches of industry fear for their existence and many a competitor from the automotive industry is recording enormous sales losses for 2020, the problem in Rüsselsheim lies elsewhere. Opel has not produced enough of the Group’s youngest Stromer – the Mokka-e. Or too many sold, depending on your point of view. What sounds like a luxury problem, however, has serious consequences for hundreds of buyers.

According to media reports, the entire annual production in 2021 has already been sold. The high demand for the E-SUV, which was only introduced in September, was already known before the turn of the year. Nevertheless, those responsible at Opel obviously misjudged them. As Golem reported, dealers were still taking orders, although they could no longer be served. At which point the communication failed is not clear.

Five surprising misconceptions about e-cars in the video:

According to Opel’s plan, the first Mocha-e are to be delivered in March 2021. But then probably not all customers who had pre-ordered also get their car. Opel has therefore started to cancel orders and terminate contracts. The Rüsselsheim-based company offers an alternative to buyers who do not want to wait for an indefinite period of time: They can switch to the Corsa-e, which is heavily discounted and has the best equipment, they say. It is difficult to speak of a real alternative here, as the two models are fundamentally different.

Crumbling sales: Mocha-e should usher in the trend reversal

Particularly spicy: shortly before the start, Opel’s CEO Michael Lohscheller announced internally that the launch of the Mokka-e had to go smoothly. After recently declining sales, high hopes were placed on the flagship E-model, it reports Handelsblatt. So far, there has only been speculation about another e-model. The manufacturer is currently naming a non-binding delivery time for the Mokka-e from August 15, 2021 in its own Opelstore. It is questionable whether this can be kept. Competitor VW recently announced problems with several models.