Opel Corsa News

Opel has confirmed that it is considering selling vehicles in Australia again, but – as per the New Zealand model – not in the traditional sense, and likely with electric vehicles (EVs) only.

Opel is suddenly hot property and here's why.

Each year, automotive brands in markets all over the globe battle for the title of best-selling model and best-selling brand.In Australia last year, Toyota once again dominated the new-vehicle market, more than doubling the tally of second-place Mazda, as

These are the future ‘Holdens’ that we are now unlikely to ever see in Australia, breaking cover in Europe wearing ex-General Motors (GM) nameplates, and yet thriving today under visionary management.

But the decision to use European Opels to add spice at Holden means the all-new Corsa could easily land Down Under with a GTC badge and a go-faster package to sit alongside the Astra-Insignia-Cascada crew already announced.This reporter is on Twitter: @PaulWardGover 

Motorist in Russia seem to capture just about everything with their dashcams and this little city car losing traction is a doozy. After sliding around during an overtake the Opel Corsa narrowly avoids a collision with a Lada and ends up perfectly positioned in a car parking spot on the side of the road.There's just one problem - the car's back to front - but perhaps the driver has an equally impressive skid planned to rejoin traffic.This reporter is on Twitter: @VladCARS

The biggest change, according to Carparazzi, is a total rework of the old-fashioned and low-quality interior. The Corsa also gets a new face taken from the baby Adam and there could also be more power when the car arrives here towards the end of the year. Here late this year with little change from current pricing. This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover    

The Corsa is dowdy and downmarket inside, but there is the promise of improvements in an updated car being tested in Scandinavia.  

A pair of Corsa mini cars is running on local roads as Opel confirms seven individual models for its start-up work as a standalone import brand down under.Opel executives confirm Volkswagen as their target in Australia, both for its recent sales growth and success in winning buyers to a relatively upscale European brand.But the company is taking a low-key approach as it joins upscale Infiniti from Japan and supercar maker McLaren as the newest additions to a showroom lineup in Australia that is closing fast on 50 individual car brands."We have our launch lineup now absolutely set in stone. We have played it down until now. We wanted to be sure we had every car we wanted," says Michelle Lang of Opel Australia."And we have the first evaluation cars here now."Opel has the hot Astra GTC coupe as its headliner - complete with …. - in a surprising varied range.When sales begin on September 1 it will have the baby Corsa with three and five-door hatchback bodies, the Astra small car as both a hatch and tourer wagon, the GTC coupe and the Camry-sized Insignia as a sedan and tourer."Opel has always historically offered an aspirational, well designed German car at an affordable price point. We think we will be able to carve out that niche in Australia," Lang says.The biggest question still to be answered is the pricing of the Opels, and how they will sit against the Volkswagen Polo, Golf and Passat - as well as benchmark cars including the Mazda3 and Ford Mondeo - in showrooms. But Lang says there will not be any exchange-rate-driven boost for buyers, despite the recent strength of the Australian dollar."We cannot confirm any pricing, but we're pretty comfortable and we haven't had to adjust that. We're really confident that we're offering great value.""We are going to be pitched fairly and squarely at the Volkwagen segment. But it's more than a price point, it's how they cars are equipped and the amount of power."While Opel is locked for 2012, Lang says the hottest future model from the brand - the baby Opel Junior  that will be pitched against the Fiat 500 - is not a target for 2013."Not at this stage. We've got some really exciting models next year, but the Junior is not one of them."Opel is benefitting from a $13.4 billion investment by GM Europe in new products over the next three years that includes everything from tiny new green engines and battery-powered city runabouts to all-new models. 

One of those could be the Junior, a 3.7-metre city car that's just a year away from production and planned to slot in below the Corsa - once a Barina - in Europe.