PSA group has appointed market professional Stephen Norman to head the Vauxhall brand in the UK. The visit comes only days after the French carmaker revealed additionally tasks will be cut at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant.
In a press seminar today, Norman, who previously headed PSA’s advertising operations, acknowledged that the Luton brand faces considerable difficulties in the coming year however the primary focus is on turning around the brand’s sales slowdown. 
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“Before anything, we need to very first enhance the fortunes of the brand on the demand side. We have to create cars and trucks that people will want to buy, then we will look at supply issues.”
When asked whether the future of the brand is doubt, Norman said: “There is a remove comprehending within the PSA group that Vauxhall is a brand in its own right, as is Opel in Europe. Both brands have intrinsic value.”
Norman, who has worked in the motor market for over forty years for brands such as Rover, Fiat as well as Renault, has joined at a tough time for Vauxhall. Registration fell 22 per cent last year, a figure linked to a overall of 650 recent task losses from the brand’s Ellesmere Port factory in Cheshire.
Although a decision on the plant’s future is yet to be made, Norman admitted that its fate is “inextricably linked” to Vauxhall’s sales performance.
“If we handle to make a radical enhancement in Vauxhall’s fortunes in the UK as well as my future colleagues in Opel do the exact same to their markets, then there will be a demand not only for each possible system of production that we’ve got, however perhaps a lot more besides.
“You don’t have a factory to support one brand in one market, it just doesn’t work like that. Clearly, if we want things to go up, we have to stop them going down.”
Norman specified that SUVs will play a crucial part in Vauxhall’s sales revival in the UK, with the designs in the section developing the backbone of the brand’s variety for a number of years to come. The Crossland X crossover as well as Grandland X SUV were introduced last year, with the latter only just entering the market. 

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