Years ago, in a confounding vehicle lineup strategy, General Motors offered the European-built Opel-Vauxhall Corsa as the Holden Barina in Australia. That all stopped in in 2005, with the current Barina being a rebadged Chevrolet Aveo/Sonic. GM later decided to reintroduce Opel vehicles to Australia, but the whole plan fell apart, and the German brand pulled out of the market less than a year after its introduction. However, with the unveiling of the 2015 Opel/Vauxhall Corsa today and a previous announcement that select Opel/Vauxhall models will enter the Holden lineup, rumors have inevitably begun swirling that the new Corsa will find itself a home in the Holden family, possibly replacing the Barina altogether.
That’s one possibility. The other is that the new Corsa would be positioned above the Chevy-based Barina as a more premium subcompact offering.
According to Holden spokeswoman Kate Lonsdale, the brand is considering to add the Corsa to the list. “We’re looking at the portfolio to see what fits best for Australia,” stated Lonsdale. “We have nothing to announce regarding the Corsa, but we’re not ruling anything out.”
We’ve heard those comments plenty of times before, so we’ll just have to wait and see in the meantime.
Comments
Given the Sonic was designed by Australian Mike Simcoe and Holden engineers have already re-worked the Barina RS, I doubt they’ll bring the Corsa in for now. I doubt they’ll have both side by side – there is no demand for it.
The Barina Rs has been a flop… Haven’t seen one on the road! I don’t think they would hedge all their bets on the fact that they reworked the Barina Rs for the Australian market.
The market wants European designed cars, hence why Kia / Hyundai have European designers etc… The Korean sourced Holden’s are awful!
So just because you haven’t “seen one one the road” makes a vehicle a “flop”? Does it get any more scientific than that?
The Barina/Sonic whoops up on the Hyundai Accent in pretty much every single criteria. European designers? Puhlease — they’re the same cars that are available elsewhere in the world. They’re not special for the Australian market. You should do some more research, mate.