General Motors is looking to see what it can do to get the Opel Adam to make it safely across the Atlantic, to better sync up its European range with that of US (and China) brand Buick. Autonews quoted the words of Opel Chairman Karl-Thomas Neumann, who admitted that they “are looking into it,” but that “nothing is decided” yet.
The move is a very plausible one, since GM is already selling rebadged Opels Stateside as Buicks, the most successful being the Encore, which has a great chance to mirror the sales success of the European Mokka crossover on which it’s based. In addition, it’s not the first time this has been brought up by a company official, so they’re clearly still pondering the idea.
Still, the current Adam is not fit to pass US regulations in its current form, so they have to operate several modifications on it, or wait for a new model that will be suitable for both markets. By that time, though, it will be facing next-gen versions of its current rivals, so the game needs to be stepped up – besides, I frankly think that Opel is trying just a bit too hard to make the Adam artificially cool. That may win over some non-initiates, but I for one think it severely detracts from its appeal, and thus I would not have it over any of its rivals…
Present at this year’s edition of the Frankfurt motor show, Opel showed off two special versions of the car, both with standard Siri Eyes Free voice control: the Adam Black Link and White Link models. Looking at the two cars, it’s not hard to see what the firm has done here – they tried to make them seem as if they are “like a sophisticated smartphone on wheels.”
Aside from the color combos and advanced voice control, are they “like a sophisticated smartphone on wheels,” really? No. Would they be cooler little cars with less of this PR and marketing department intervention? I think so. Oh, and it needs a turbocharged engine for it to be taken seriously (and get better reviews, all of which have featured complaints about the poor choice of engines) – a diesel would be smart too. And yes, it’s not as safe as it could be, either.
