2015 Opel Range Is Too Good To Be True

GM Technical Centre, Warren, MI

GENERAL MOTORS is about to go chasing after Dacia. That's the latest news according to the US company as it attempts to increase profitability at Opel and regain market share in Europe. That means a cheap hatchback and a cheap SUV either entering the current Opel line-up or being put within a parenthetic sub-brand. 

Meanwhile, Opel's are styled as though dropped in from a higher price point. The Astra and Insignia are handsome, well-sculpted cars with some expensive-looking detailing. The Monza concept took that to another level, with a sophisticated bodyside and tremendous stance. 

The previous Astra got it right too: a clean, machined and neatly detailed design with each element interlocking with the next. It looked expensive, and also simple. Look at the past two Golf generations, and it is easy to see how Opel could have carried this precise machined aesthetic across the range. Instead, Opel abandoned clearly defined boxiness and chased emotive surfacing to pursue premium-ness.

Here's an easy way to define premium-ness: which car looks the most expensive? Now divide perceived price by retail price and you have an equation for defining value. Parallel to this, however, is the matter of expectations. Do you expect an Opel to look pricier than an Audi? This scenario doesn’t allow much room for authenticity, which is problematic for two reasons. Authenticity is confirmation that the product delivers what was promised. 

Thus, authenticity is trust, which builds relationships. By producing affordable cars that look too good, Opel risks creating a mismatch between customer and product. Only they haven’t: a new Vauxhall Astra costs $30,000. You could by an Audi for that. 

2015 Opel Karl

I believer in using existing consumer behaviour to define strategy. But Opel is tricky. Not even emotive designs can alleviate the dire un-sexiness of the brand, denting prospects for private ownership. Price and products are not going to be enough to sustain. There is, however, an unlikely silver-lining their large customer base in the rental market. Instead of pursuing design-led exclusivity, Opel could harness car-sharing inclusivity with emphasis on service as much as product. DriveNow and Uber show how is being done. Until then, the Opel Karl will have to do.

2013 Opel Monza Concept Is Brake Without Tradition

THANKFULLY THE Opel Monza concept has little to do with the bluff coupe made 30 years ago. Instead Opel has produced a sleek shooting-brake. Cleanliness is the key here: only one cutline visibly interrupts the shoulder; there are no seals, and the glass runs into the shoulder line. The careful positive door-section is inclined to reflect the ground to convey lightness, billowing out for the rear wheel, yet with a rocker that is teardrop in plan. Two chrome strips frame a single large door, the upper strip running the length of the cant-rail, featuring a neat scalloped section, before hooking into the tail-lamps. 

The rear is notable for the absence of any corner, with a high slim metal trunk face the rearmost surface, instilling lightness and newness despite the familiarity of the layout. The front eschews the rounded section of production models for a squared Y-zero (what hip designers call the centre-line). Anthropomorphic headlamps have been replaced by a more severe, less expressive face that focuses on the tight mesh texture, grille bar and running light. This is tone-on-tone and nuanced detail design used to excellent, if sober, effect.

The interior is a compelling example of how projectors can replace screens for an immersive interface experience, liberating flat screens into shapes that correlate with screen content. Next to the dancing displays, the seats seem a little static, though the door card captures that fleeting, wind-blown lightness of the bodyside with a white sail running beside the driver.

Like the Citroen C4 Cactus and Cadillac Elmiraj concept, the Monza first gets the dimensions right. After years of ever-growing cars, the reductionist result is startling: the product feel sustainable, personal and efficient. It is a year since we first saw the Monza (apologies for the wait. Ed); I hope we are a year closer to seeing similar on the links.

2015 Opel Corsa Is Still An Opel Corsa

THE NEW Opel range now boasts two old Corsas: one disguised as an Adam, and one masquerading as the new Corsa. Powerful word, ‘new’. It persuades us to look past the familiar bodyside and me-too layout and makes us think, maybe it could be... Actually the new Corsa isn’t even an old Corsa. The old Corsa was the old Astra. The sharp, clean, two-box that preceded today’s Seat-alike and pre-empted the chisel-like Golfs now on the street.

That the new Corsa marries the architecture of the outgoing model with the styling of the Adam isn’t a bad thing. Mainly because you will pay less for it. Opel could have spent more to silence cynics, but the customer would rather save money and have only as many changes as the cash allows. Opel knows it, and they are carefully garnering a profit from up-cycling existing packages. 

The Adam-themed styling is most noticeable at the front and most useful at the rear, which I always found too generic. ‘We can’t stray into the bootlid, that costs too much’  plus ‘ We want it to look dynamic’ equated in the diamond-shaped fayre that has bestowed so many budget-conscious cars from Fiesta to, well, Corsa. Thankfully, some of those saved pennies have been spent on dragging the tail-lamps into the bootlid, lending some much needed width and getting the car in line with the Astra. 

Inside I was pleasantly surprised to see an overhaul of the IP. The perceived quality is quite high, and gone are the days of cutesy circular vents (that glowed in the dark, no less). No time for gimmicks: there is subtle driver-orientation and a more sturdy-looking fascia with big-car style air-vents. (You may mock, but those vents form a large part of one's impression of an interior.)

The new Corsa represents a smart move by Opel to stay competitive in the small car stakes. We look forward to seeing where they really have spent the money. Monza concept, where are you?