AIMS: Opel to fill GM hot hatch space – for now

Holden will leave the hot hatch business to Opel Down Under. That’s the apparent message after Holden boss Mike Devereux poured cold water on any hope of a high-powered version of the Holden Cruze hatch appearing any time soon.

Speaking at Holden’s Australian International Motor Show (AIMS) preview at the company's HQ on Tuesday (June 28), Devereux confirmed the Cruze hatch range would “mirror” the sedan line-up when it goes on sale in October 2011. Further the affable Holden boss anointed the standard output 1.4-litre turbo SRi-V variant as the Cruze range’s top model.

“Our SRi-V is really the halo model for us going forward. The take up rate is very, very high out of the blocks ... That’ll be, for the time being, our halo model,” Devereux told the Carsales Network.

Though Devereux didn’t rule out higher-spec Cruze versions in the future, he made it clear they weren’t close.

Devereux says Opel’s arrival Down Under in 2012 does not prevent Holden from developing its models as it sees fit, but he’s clearly mindful of leaving clear ‘air’ in which Opel can hawk its wares.

“Holden will do what it needs to do to satisfy its customers.. So if that means higher performance models, that’s what we’ll have. [But] The Opel product line-up, when it hits our shores, will obviously be planned in an intelligent way to work in concert [with our wider line-up].”

“We’ll be smart in how we content the brands [Holden and Opel] but I think they come from very different [places]... Psychographically, the two brands are going to be positioned very, very differently in this [Australian] marketplace and contented differently, but that doesn’t hold our ability to content Cruze with all the bits and pieces that we would want to in any way.”

That said, the Holden boss seems content to allow GM’s European brand Opel to take the performance high ground in the segment (Opel competes head-on with VW and Renault’s hot hatches in the European marketplace via its OPC (Opel Performance Centre) badged models) at least in the medium term.

When asked if he was happy for Opel to have an Astra hot hatch and there be no Cruze equivalent, Devereux, ever the company man, replied with a smile: “I’m happy for Opel to be successful and sell as many cars and make as much money for General Motors in Australia as possible... Absolutely!”