SPY PICS: Mini SUV for Opel
German GM brand is said to be planning a mini SUV based on the Corsa model – and designed by Holden in AustraliaJust as you are beginning to despair over the elephantine disguise that makes probing on the actual details all-but impossible, you spot the pics, taken through the front passenger-side window of this Opel prototype, showing a well-detailed photo of the dash, and part of the interior.
According to spy photographers Carparazzi, the car is Opel’s forthcoming mini SUV to be based on the Corsa (once Holden Barina) model and said to be planned for a European launch later this year.
Carparazzi caught the well camouflaged Opel on the move, also managing to get close enough when the car was stopped and the driver departed to get a good look through the front-passenger window.
The image shows a different dash layout to that of the Corsa, with high-mounted rectangular centre air intakes, more cowling over the instrument binnacle and a less-integrated centre console. The area is detailed enough in terms of instruments and switchgear to suggest the production car is not too far off.
As for the exterior, there’s not a lot to be said apart from the overall dimensions that look to be the same as those of the current Corsa five-door hatch. Being an SUV derivative, you’d expect the ride height to be lifted but it is difficult to tell by how much.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the mini Opel SUV is that it could be designed in Australia. It's not the first time Holden designers have been involved in such a project, the local team having worked behind the scenes on the Chevrolet YGM1 concept, which later made it into production as the (first) Holden Cruze and was sold in international markets.
Vice president of Opel planning Frank Weber told the carsales network in March this year that the company was “looking closely” at a mini SUV. He also said that Holden is designing a new car for Opel, but did not at the time say exactly what it would be.
Observers say that such a car would be the saviour for Opel’s plant in Bochum, Germany, and that it would be built at the rate of 200,000 vehicles a year.
Whether or not the Opel SUV would be sold in Australia after the German brand is launched here in 2012 is unknown.
-- with Carparazzi
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