Opel planning a new minicar for Europe, looking for development partner
According to Alain Visser, Opel's head of sales and marketing, Opel needs a minicar to compete. However, developing a new minicar is a huge expense, and even though Opel has set aside €250 million for this car, the company would like a partner. It's not unusual: Ford and Fiat share the Fiat Panda/Fiat 500/Ford Ka platform; Toyota and PSA share the Toyota Aygo/Citroën C1/Peugeot 107 structure. Opel has already a similar model, the Agila (shown above), which is jointly made with the Suzuki Splash but it's a little big for the minicar segment. As for possible powertrain hints, Magna/Opel has confirmed that it would have an electric powertrain available as soon as in 2012.
[Source: Automotive news (subs. req'd)]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mark Kiernan 4:32PM (10/16/2009)
I really hope they put an EV powertrain in it. We need to have a full fleet of EVs from minis to SUVs.
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Stan Peterson 4:50PM (10/16/2009)
Opel is now discovering the drawbacks to being an independent and modestly sized car company. Were they still a part of the GM conglomerate, they would have ready access to the Spark/Beat, which is a modern A segment minicar, which is nearing production status worldwide...
Oh well, welcome to the benefits of being too small. The Opel unions will discover the benefits of closed factories anyway, but without the ameliorating effects, that come of being part of a much larger enterprise.
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Wanted 6:18PM (10/16/2009)
Could not have said it any better.
hermperez 11:48PM (10/16/2009)
Tata Nano might be interested in a partnership.
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jonbo in ARK 11:10PM (10/16/2009)
Speaking of Opel and their previous ownership, I've been thinking this past year that it was a pity GM couldn't have retained Opel. I read that Opel had been designing a lot of GM's smaller models. It that's so, didn't that make them an important asset? I, (Disclaimer: not really knowing any facts), thought that Opel could design the cute little Euro, high MPG, looking stuff and it could be sold here under the Saturn badge. They could also have badged the Volt as a Saturn. Forget whatever Saturn was selling previously. We're starting over, right?
Then Buick, what niche is Buick supposed to be filling? Dump Buick. Chevy for the regular car stuff, Cad is luxury, and Saturn/Opel is the oddball, tech/design-pushing stuff. Again, without actually knowing anything, this made sense to me.
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