Holden luxury SUV axed

Holden’s plan to introduce an all-new luxury SUV based on its imported 2018 ZB Commodore appears to be in jeopardy following a report that Opel’s upcoming Insignia-based SUV flagship has been cancelled.

PSA Peugeot Citroen has commenced a 100-day consultation process to establish a new business plan for Opel/Vauxhall after the French auto giant completed its $3 billion purchase of the German/British car-maker from General Motors two weeks ago.

According to Auto Express, all GM-related Opel programs have now been frozen and the luxury SUV project cancelled.

First confirmed by GM in 2014 and expected to appear around 2019, Opel’s large, premium SUV was one of the 24 new or facelifted models — and one of five SUVs — Holden promised to release in Australia between 2015 and 2020.

While the upgraded Trax and Colorado 7 (now called Trailblazer) have since been released, the other two SUVs are the mid-size Equinox due on sale here in November and the larger seven-seat Acadia set for sale Down Under from mid-2018.

The Mexican-built Equinox will rival Mazda’s top-selling CX-5, Toyota’s RAV4 and Ford’s 2018 Edge, while the US-made Acadia will target the Mazda CX-9 and Toyota Kluger. Together, they will replace Holden’s archaic Captiva.

Meantime, Opel’s ‘Monza’ SUV – so dubbed because the 2013 Monza show car previewed its exterior styling, as well as that of the latest Insignia, which will be badged as a Commodore here from next year – was expected to be positioned at the top of Holden’s rejuvenated SUV line-up, at least in price if not size.

Said to bring "dramatic styling" and an interior to rival more expensive premium cars, the Monza SUV was to have been produced alongside – and based on the same GM-owned E2 platform — as the Insignia in Russelsheim, Germany.

According to an Auto Express source, the Monza could re-emerge later if it is reengineered to be based on PSA's own EMP2 chassis and also powered by engines lifted from Peugeot and Citroen.

The decision to can the GM-based SUV is part of a wider offensive by PSA to increase part-sharing and reduce R&D costs within what is now Europe’s second largest car-maker in a bid to save $2.5 billion.

This is expected to help PSA boost Opel's operating margin to two per cent by 2020 and six per cent by 2026. Before the takeover, Opel and its UK sister brand Vauxhall hadn't been profitable since 1999.

Opel’s Monza SUV should not be confused with the same brand’s seven-seat Grandland X crossover (pictured), which replaced the Zafira in Europe this year.

Confusingly, like the compact Crossland X, which replaces the small Meriva people-mover, the Grandland X is already based on a PSA platform, in this case the same EMP2 architecture as the Peugeot 3008 launched in Australia this week.

This is significant because, as part of the GM-PSA deal, Opel cannot sell any GM-based models in markets where the US car-maker is already present.

Therefore, if PSA decides to re-establish Opel as a brand in Australia, as it indicated it will, it would be limited – at least initially -- to selling models like the Crossland and Grandland, and the latest Opel Combo, which is also based on a PSA platform.

So far there is no sign of Opel being resurrected here by new PSA distributor Inchcape, which could eventually sell a whole range of Opel models here – perhaps even including the still-born Monza SUV — once they no longer incorporate GM intellectual property.

PSA chief Carlos Tavares has told motoring.com.au he will honour existing Opel export contracts, such as those Opel has with Holden to sell the Astra and upcoming Insignia/Commodore here, but those models are likely to migrate to PSA platforms in their next generations.

Further highlighting the uncertain future of European-sourced Holden models like the Commodore, however, he also promised not to cut Opel’s existing product plan, as he has reportedly now done.