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Opel’s newfound independence may allow it to finally pursue a minicar, but the company says it may need a partner to help usher the car into production.
<P class=MsoNormal target=”_blank”>Alain Visser, Opel’s head of sales and marketing, suggests the company is interested in entering the increasingly popular minicar segment, but needs a partner to help manufacture the car in order to remain profitable.
<P class=MsoNormal target=”_blank”>“This is the most difficult segment in the market to make money,” Visser told Automotive News, “so it’s where many automakers join forces.” Indeed, the Ford Ka and Fiat 500 ride on similar platforms and are built in the same facility in Poland. Toyota partnered with Peugeot and Citroen to produce the Aygo, 107, and C1, respectively.
<P class=MsoNormal target=”_blank”>Opel has shown a number of minicar concepts in the past (the last being the Trixx, shown at the 2004 Geneva motor show), but none has reached production. Opel’s chairman, Carl-Peter Forster, has said Opel would seek to compete in the segment by 2012 at the earliest.
<P class=MsoNormal target=”_blank”>Source: Automotive News
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