Opel remains committed to the supermini segment as the long-running Corsa nameplate will soldier on for at least one more generation, unlike rivals like the Ford Fiesta which has been discontinued.
The news was confirmed by design boss, Mark Adams, who spoke to the media during the recent presentation of the facelifted Opel Corsa. As reported by Autocar, the next-gen model will arrive later in the decade as a purely electric small hatchback.
The automaker is able to remain in the supermini segment thanks to the economies of scale achieved within Stellantis. Besides the Corsa and the Peugeot 208, the shared underpinnings will also be used in the upcoming Citroen C3, Lancia Ypsilon, and a yet-unnamed Fiat hatchback plus an array of similarly-sized B-SUVs.
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Adams explained that Stellantis provides the brands with “one and a half toolboxes” allowing each one to “add their own bits on”. He added that while the Corsa will remain closely related to its supermini siblings, customers won’t be able to tell as each model is different in areas that matter to them: “We’re fortunate for the economies of scale to allow us to do things the customer doesn’t care about but then also doing things they do care about with the brand”.
The next generation of the Stellantis superminis will ride on the Small STLA platform which will be an evolution of the widely used CMP/eCMP. Opel has pledged to go EV-only by 2028, which means that the next-gen Corsa will be exclusively offered with a zero-emission powertrain.
Judging from the fact that the current generation of the Corsa debuted in 2019 and got a facelift in 2023, the new EV-only model could arrive closer to 2027. While the rival VW Polo, Seat Ibiza, and Skoda Fabia trio are likely to join the Ford Fiesta and the Kia Rio on the death row due to the Euro 7 emission regulations, the Opel Corsa will still have enough competition to worry about. Among the electric rivals will be the Renault 5, the production version of the VW ID.2all concept, and a mechanically-related EV from Skoda.
