It’s been rumored that the Viva name will return to the Vauxhall roster, but nothing has been officially confirmed. The rumor popped up again this week, with the speculation suggesting that the next-gen Vauxhall Agila will be called the Viva, while Opel will continue to call its budget-minded city car the Agila.
According to Top Gear, the Viva name resonates with the Brits even though it hasn’t been in production since 1979. As General Motors’ European brands have been reformulating their product lines and marketing after experiencing several lean years, Vauxhall hopes that the Viva name will assist in bringing home the bacon for GM.
Of course, this still is speculation, but the supposed Viva (and its Opel Agila brother) will be all-European (or, more properly, “global”), unlike the current Agila twins, which are based on the Suzuki Splash. The next-gen Chevrolet Spark will be on the same platform, but since Chevrolet will be leaving Europe for 2015, there is little chance for cannibalizing.
How serious is Vauxhall about its new Viva née Agila? Says Vauxhall’s big guy, Tim Tozer, “We’ll give Ford a bloody good run for their money in small cars. We’ll have three great small cars. They have the Fiesta, which is great, and the Ka, which isn’t.”
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