Opel expansion to aid Holden

Opel has revealed an extra eight vehicles and engines have been added to an already massive new product binge destined to play a key role in Holden’s ambitious drive to return to the top of the Australian new car sales charts by 2020.

General Motors’ European brand and its UK sister Vauxhall will roll out no less than 27 new models and 17 new engines between 2014 and 2018.

The huge output is central to Opel’s DRIVE2022 10-year business plan, first announced in mid-2012, when it said it would launch 23 new products and 13 new drivetrains between 2014 and 2018.

Included in its plans are a new generation of the Astra small car and Corsa mini, both of which have been sold here in the past as Holdens and – in 2012-13 – as Opels, during the brand’s brief tenure marketing under its own name in Australia.

DRIVE2022 also aims to turn around years of Opel losses and return to profit by 2016, as well as become the number two brand by sales in Europe by 2018 behind Volkswagen.

New managing director Gerry Dorizas told media in April his ambition was to return Holden to the top of the charts in 2020, three years after the last Commodore is scheduled to run down the assembly line at Elizabeth.

Apart from the locally-assembled Cruze, Holden’s range of small and medium cars is sourced through Chevrolet and primarily built in Korea. But Dorizas has made it clear forming a model range from the best available products in GM’s global model lineup was integral to his sales plan.

Dorizas and, GM chief of consolidated international operations  Stefan Jacoby gave a clear indication Holden would look to Opel for many of those cars when they announced on May 1 the current generation Astra GTC and VXR (nee OPC) three-door hatchbacks, the Insignia VXR (nee OPC) and the all-new Cascada hard-top convertible will go on-sale in Australia within 12 months.

“We are certainly excited to hear about Opel’s growth plans,” said Holden spokesman Sean Poppitt. “It’s not a stretch to imagine we might be examining anything that might come out of Opel’s expansion.

“We are certainly committed to bringing in the best products for Holden customers from all over the GM world, wherever they may be,” added Poppitt.

Importantly for Australia, much of this flood of new Opels will be built on shared architectures with the rest of the GM family. There will be especially close links with Buick, which is kicking big sales goals in China.

This internationalisation means Holden will have more choice in where it can source its future product from, therefore giving it the opportunity for more competitive pricing options in the cut-throat local market.

“We will look everywhere across the GM global portfolio to get the best cars for Holden,” Poppitt said.

The Corsa, which has sold here previously as a Holden Barina, will be launched in substantially updated form at the Paris motor show in September. An all-new car is said to be coming in 2018 according to the authoritative Automotive News Europe.

The new generation Astra is due on-sale in Europe in 2015 and will definitely come to Australia, either to sell alongside the Cruze or to replace it.

A new generation Insignia is also in the works along with a micro-car smaller than the Adam super-mini.

Of more potential interest to Australia where super-minis don’t sell that well, is Opel’s plan to grow its SUV and cross-over line-up beyond the current Mokka (which is a non-identical technical close relation of the Holden Trax).

The next generation Meriva and Zafira people-movers will move towards a cross-over style, reflecting the growth in the sales of such vehicles in Europe. They will also be built on a shared PSA Peugeot/Citroen architecture and the Zafira will be built at a PSA plant in France.

A cross-over larger than the Insignia wagon has also been mooted as a new flagship for the range.

The new Opel engine lineup will include a 1.0-litre triple-cylinder petrol engine family that will debut with Corsa, which will offer a rorty turbo version.