Opel and Vauxhall are starting to come into their own under PSA Groupe, which has big electrification plans for both brands. In the coming months, we’ll see exactly where the design direction is headed with an “expressive” new concept.
The vehicle appears to be a successor to the Opel GT concept from the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, but Vauxhall’s Vice-President of design Mark Adams told Auto Express in a Monday report that the concept actually will preview the next Corsa.
The next-generation Corsa will be the first car to move away from General Motors intellectual property—platform and powertrain.
“You’ll get some of the flavor and some of the ingredients but we’re trying to push the boundary with the concept beyond the Corsa,” he said.
Opel not only plans for a traditional Corsa model, but an eCorsa, a battery-electric variant of the small car, due for launch in 2020. Opel will also add a plug-in hybrid version of the Grandland X crossover and Vivaro to begin its electrified model portfolio. By 2024, PSA Groupe wants every Opel to offer an electrified powertrain.
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Does anyone care since Opel is not part of GM?
YES! Opel will always be interesting.
As long as the Opel Pressroom is found in the gm.com Internet domain….
Check out http://media.gm.com/media/intl/en/opel/news.html
Also, Opel is producing in Poland and Germany cars for the Buick and Holden brands, and GM factories are producing Opel/Vauxhall cars, notably GM Korea (Mokka and Opel Karl aka Vauxhall Viva).
And Opel is producing cars using technology which is considered “intellectual property” of GM, licenced free of charge to PSA for those cars under condition that they are not exported beyond the countries which were served by Opel at the moment of the sale of Opel from GM to PSA.
So, the full separation is still a thing for the future.
And, not to forget, the Opel Technical Development Center is still working on several GM development contracts which are not Opel-related. Enough work up to 2020.
I’m hoping that PSA and GM can continue to share the Opel Technical Centre past 2020.
GM has a tradition of partnering with Ford, Honda, Isuzu so there is no reason why PSA can’t be added to the list. GM will be weak on compacts, cars in general, so an architecture or even joint engenerring deal makes sense.
Wall Street is very focused on Cruise but without high quality GM will always be an also ran.
There is even still an “Opel Australia” pressroom reporting about the recent “Tech day” at Opel Rüsselsheim, praising the integration of the Opel development center, formerly GM International Technical Development Center (ITDC) and GM Design Center into the PSA development network.
Opel Australia had been shut down in several years ago!
http://media.gm.com/media/au/en/opel/news.detail.html/content/Pages/presskits/intl/en/2018/opel/06-13-ruesselsheim-tech-day.html
Again: the umbilical cord linking Opel to its nursing mother has still not been cut
The Opel and Vauxhall press rooms have now moved their home to a PSA server or one of PSA’s “Automotive Division OV”.
See https://gb-media.vauxhall.co.uk/en-gb/vauxhall-readies-2020s-vision-its-future
for the article beginning with this
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• Daring brand concept to embody Vauxhall’s core values
• ‘Bold and pure’ design will revive cues from 2016 GT Concept
• Final reveal before the end of year
Luton/Rüsselsheim – Vauxhall today revealed a first glimpse of a brand concept for the mid-2020s that will embrace its core values – British, Ingenious, Progressive and Approachable – and provide a template for the future design of its production cars.
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For countries where Opel is marketed see this German press room:
de-media. opel. com/de/opel-gibt-einen-ausblick-die-zukunft-so-stellt-sich-die-marke-auf
(remove the blanks in the url to use it)
The Opel versions have a drop down menu to select the country or “international”, while the Vauxhall version is fixed with only “United Kingdom”, the only country where the Vauxhall brand is marketed.
I expect to wake up one day to news of a GM-PSA Alliance solidified by a small and symbolic stock swap.
An alliance with PSA, Honda, or both would allow GM to save big time on future architectures. Such a move would aid GM in bringing Chevy back to Europe, too.
Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi could hold lessons for GM regarding scale while retaining culture.
I thought that such an alliance was meant when I first heard of the Opel sale to PSA. But it wasnt.
See https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/vauxhall-reveals-new-styling-direction-2019-and-beyond for an article by “autocar” chief editor Steve Cropley on “Vauxhall reveals new styling direction for 2019 and beyond”
Begins with
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Vauxhall and Opel cars will get a new, very different and all-encompassing grille and lights design, to underscore their move to the PSA Group and mark their new independence from former owner General Motors.
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Apparently based on an interview with OV design chief Mark Adams.