29 replies to this topic

[rich_r]

Thought today whilst driving my sh1tty hire car 'Why did Vauxhall stop making the VX'? Anyone know? Did Vauxhall run out of cash or they thought the VX (or namely VXR) brand was at its strongest to introduce the VXR range? Or did Lotus cease making them incase VX sales over took the Elise?

[cheshirevx]

Simply because they didnt sell. Vauxhall dont make sports cars

[Pete0810]

Simply because they didnt sell.

Vauxhall dont make sports cars

Didn't Vauxhall have a reputation for making sports cars though when it first started out and even as recently as the 60s and 70s?

[ChazUwe]

The VX was purely a marketing tool, lead to the VXR brand which was pretty much all vauxhall wanted out of it. Can pretty much guarentee they didn't make any money out of VX sales directly!

[Baron Von Scubadaddy]

They ran out of plastic kits and Humbrol paint

[MrSimba]

The VX was purely a marketing tool, lead to the VXR brand which was pretty much all vauxhall wanted out of it.

Can pretty much guarentee they didn't make any money out of VX sales directly!

Most definalty when you consider what their warantee claim costs must have been

[john_s]

The VX was purely a marketing tool, lead to the VXR brand which was pretty much all vauxhall wanted out of it.

Can pretty much guarentee they didn't make any money out of VX sales directly!

Most definalty when you consider what their warantee claim costs must have been

There was talk a few years ago (probably in 2005) that warranty costs were averaging £6000 per VX and that at least one VX stood Vauxhall at more in warranty costs than the dealer had sold the car for.

[ChazUwe]

The VX was purely a marketing tool, lead to the VXR brand which was pretty much all vauxhall wanted out of it.

Can pretty much guarentee they didn't make any money out of VX sales directly!

Most definalty when you consider what their warantee claim costs must have been

There was talk a few years ago (probably in 2005) that warranty costs were averaging £6000 per VX and that at least one VX stood Vauxhall at more in warranty costs than the dealer had sold the car for.

Lol, I can believe that!

[theotherjonnymac]

Mine has had both clams replace so they have made little profit on mine!! The "badge" has always been a constraint for sales.

[Winstar]

The real reason is that Lotus was always only contracted to Build a certain number, I can't remember how many it was

[Pipo]

I have access to inside information at General Motors, and I can assure you they made a huge loss on the Speedster/VX. In part due to the sale not coming up to the expectations which made them drop the price because they had a contract with Lotus for an agreed productionquantity. (And finally they broke that contract prematurely). But also severe losses were due to the many warranty-issues. Which ironically were mainly result of contractor qualityproblems (among others, if not most, Lotus). That's why I would never buy a Lotus, as in my opinion, the quality doesn't match the price

[P11 COV]

The real reason is that Lotus was always only contracted to Build a certain number, I can't remember how many it was

10/10 to that man for the correct answer!

However I do believe that they never produced the intended number due to lack of sales.

Edited by P11 COV, 20 February 2008 - 09:33 PM.

[Pipo]

However I do believe that they never produced the intended number due to lack of sales.

Correct. They decided to end the production prematurely. And had to make a deal with Lotus to compensate (details are fuzzy though )

[David87]

I just thought it was because nobody bought it 'cos it had a Vauxhall badge.

[ukgulf]

The VX was purely a marketing tool, lead to the VXR brand which was pretty much all vauxhall wanted out of it.

Can pretty much guarentee they didn't make any money out of VX sales directly!

Most definalty when you consider what their warantee claim costs must have been

There was talk a few years ago (probably in 2005) that warranty costs were averaging £6000 per VX and that at least one VX stood Vauxhall at more in warranty costs than the dealer had sold the car for.

No wonder Lotus are so expensive... they obviously built in warranty costs into their cost model !!

[theotherjonnymac]

Agree. The new Elise is pushing £40k with a few options. Mad money IMO

[jazzyjeff]

I have access to inside information at General Motors, and I can assure you they made a huge loss on the Speedster/VX. In part due to the sale not coming up to the expectations which made them drop the price because they had a contract with Lotus for an agreed productionquantity. (And finally they broke that contract prematurely). But also severe losses were due to the many warranty-issues. Which ironically were mainly result of contractor qualityproblems (among others, if not most, Lotus).

The irony is that towards the end build quality got much better and most of the expensive warranty issues seem to relate to earlier cars So although the product improved, Vauxhall threw in the towel.

Lotus did of course continue the bloodline with the (much maligned and underrated, and arguably better built) Europa

JJ

[Amoger]

Good for us that they didn't sell originally, and didn't make as many as contracted for (unless you ended up with one of the ones that spent a year sat in a field!). Cheaper to buy, now hold resale value better, no "newer, better" models taking over (am going to avoid the NA/Tubby debate here!) and a unique car on most journeys. Hats off to Vauxhall for giving us the working man's supercar.

[mcarrick69]

The VX was purely a marketing tool, lead to the VXR brand which was pretty much all vauxhall wanted out of it.

Does this mean Vx had the VXR range planned back in <1999

[2GOOD]

The real reason is that Lotus was always only contracted to Build a certain number, I can't remember how many it was

10/10 to that man for the correct answer!

However I do believe that they never produced the intended number due to lack of sales.

Original contract - 9000 VX/Speedsters in 3 years & at the turbo launch we were told how the contract had been extended in time.

It was supposed to have been 2000 VX220's & 1000 Speedsters/year for 3 years by mid 2002 & the stock piling was pretty bad, an outfit called On Time was storing them all.