Saturn Corsa?

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The next Opel Corsa has been caught on a photo shoot in Spain.
And I think it looks great! Just like a mini Astra, but more modern. (a 4 door hatch is also available)
And it would fit nicely in the new Saturn line up in the US, under the $16 000 Astra.

It would give GM a truly modern product to go against the Yaris/Fit crowd.

There is hope.

Conversation 15 comments

  1. sweet little car. much better looking than any hatchback currently sold in the US. except maybe for the mini. i would totally buy it if it was priced around 12k like it’s competitors

  2. I agree. Looks like a winner and would be a good Saturn.

    Small cars are more luxurious in Europe than they are in the U.S. and cost more, too. It might be difficult to bring or produce the small Opel to the U.S. without decontenting it to the point of severe cheapness to make the necessary price points.

    At least GM seems to be generating some slick products that can only help them.

  3. If they could sell this car for $14,000 with an iPod stereo, power windows, all the airbags, and a sunroof (maybe even the manual crank kind), they’d sell them with no problem at all.

  4. I would definitely consider this car if they brought it to the states. That, and the Astra are the first GM cars in a loooong time that I would actually want to buy…

  5. There’s a hint of Fiat Bravo on the three-door around the rear, otherwise it looks like Astra light. No bad thing though. It will make a nice rival to the Peugeot 207 and Fiat Grande Punto—both of which have become more butch than their predecessors.

  6. Anonymous no. 3, I was thinking the same: if Chevy as a brand is going global, why not Opel as well? Or they could be Saturn–Opels! (Yes, that was a joke to all of us who could remember the rebadged Isuzu Geminis being sold as the Buick–Opel for a few model years in the mid- to late-1970s.)

  7. Why has it taken GM-NA so long to figure out that the “import-beating” designs they lust after come from their division just across the pond? I have been hoping for years they’d import some of their Europe-only stuff over here.

    I know, the argument has been made several times about cost, but I don’t think that’s an issue. If the product is good, it will deserve an elevated price tag. Plus, premium products would inject some passion into GM’s mostly utilitarian product line. Besides, isn’t the whole concept of GM’s divisions to have its own identity? There certainly is room for a premium division to fight the likes of some Japanese brands and VW. Let Chevy continue to peddle rent-a-cars for discount prices to hedge the premium-priced Saturns.

    Opels would finally give the Japanese some competition – just like they have to deal with in Europe. In America, the Big 3 have practically handed the market over to the Japanese with their sub par vehicles.

    I’m tired of it!!

    So let’s have it, GM –
    Saturn Corsa
    Saturn Astra
    Saturn Aura
    Saturn Antera (Vue)
    Saturn Zafira
    Saturn Outlook
    Saturn Sky

    (oh, and by the way, “bold” Ford should do the exact same thing: sell all its European products as Mercury… but we already knew this)

  8. ABC:
    If Saturn also adds a 10 year warranty similar to what Suzuki, Hyundai and Mitsubshi offers, you will see these Saturn-Opels all over the place.
    Mt. Luts, are you listening?

  9. The idea of selling the Opel brand in the U.S. makes some sense except that GM did that back in the 1970s to give Buick dealers small cars to sell after gas prices soared following the OPEC embargo.

    Those Opels weren’t very good and with a rising German mark, GM brought over Isuzu cars branded Opel instead.

    The Isuzu-branded Opels were crappy, too. So Opel has a disappointing history in the U.S.

    Better not to call anything an Opel here especially because the Saturn name is generally OK even though the ION nearly ruined it.

  10. I agree, Anonymous no. 10. I think a lot of the resistance was politicking and nothing more. It’s like the Holden Commodore being made all that time Down Under: to me, that car is more of a Chevy Impala than the FWD model sold in the States, with its Corvette-derived engine in the top models. A could-have-been for the US.
       Only recently has Lutz been able to take a more global view of GM and use economies of scale. Sure, the Monaro wasn’t quite your Pontiac GTO, but it proved that the Australian plant could create a quality car. With improved economies, these Opels can be made more cheaply for the US, too.
       I have always taken a similar view of Mercury. Actually, my thought was to use Ford of Europe offerings for the compact and intermediate classes, and Mercury could have benefited from Mazda-based models. When Ford sold the Mondeo and the Telstar in different markets in the 1990s, the latter could easily have been Mercury’s import-fighter and stole sales from the Japanese.

  11. Anonymous said…
    they should just drop the Saturn brand and just sell Opels here…

    Whoever said this is a dumbass. Saturn is a good brand. You can’t just scrap it.

  12. I wouldn’t call the person a dumbass but I agree with your thoughts on the Saturn brand. Similarly, GM has retained Chevrolet for Brazil, Holden for Australia and Vauxhall for the UK when reselling Opels, so what you say makes total sense to me.

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