Opel to build its upcoming city car without a partner
By Andrew C., 26 Aug, 2010. 0 Comments
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Opel and Vauxhall are proceeding with plans for an upmarket city car. In an interview, company chief Nick Reilly said that there won't be a collaboration with another manufacturer. Reilly made the announcement weeks ago that there are plans for an "aspirational" supermini as part of his major restructuring plan for Opel/Vauxhall. There are speculations that due to economic constraints, the company would be forced to look for a partner, similar to what it did with Agila, which is produced by Suzuki and also mechanically identical to the Splash.
But circumstances are now different; it's believed that the new Opel city car could be built on the next generation Corsa platform, which is currently being developed by GM Dat in Korea and will also underpin future small Chevrolets. Reilly said that with VW taking a 20% stake in Suzuki, the company's own relationship with the Japanese carmaker is being threatened. He pointed out that the next Agila would most likely be affected by the new arrangement, indicating that Vauxhall's next generation budget mini could also be a go-it-alone project. [via autocar]
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