We had heard about Opel’s plans to bring a flagship crossover to market by 2017, but it appears that there will be more Opel crossovers in the future, as the German carmaker seeks to boost sales and return to profit.
“We will move more into crossover segments in general, because that’s where customers are going,” Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann was quoted as saying by Autonews Europe. He said that the replacements for the Meriva and Zafira minivans would both be styled as crossovers when they arrive in 2016. The two models are jointly developed with PSA Peugeot Citroen and will be built on PSA platforms and use PSA engines.
According to Neumann, joint development and production will allow for Opel to build the models profitably. “All of our big-selling cars, the Corsa, Astra, Insignia and Mokka, sit on high-volume global platforms from General Motors. The only two I could not put on such global platforms were minivans,” Neumann explained.
The new Zafira will be built at a PSA plant in Sochaux, France, while the Meriva replacement will be assembled at an Opel factory in Zaragoza, Spain.
However, the executive declined to comment on reports that Opel plans to launch a large crossover in 2017 inspired by the Monza concept car (pictured). The flagship SUV is said to start from €26,000 ($35,864), slightly more than Opel’s current most expensive vehicle, the Insignia mid-sized sedan.
Last year Opel said it is launching 23 new or redesigned models and 13 new engines as part of its Drive 2022 plan to turnaround the brand, with GM aiming to return to profit in Europe by 2016.
By Dan Mihalascu
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