Filed under: Trends, Economy, Plants/Manufacturing, Paris Motor Show, Hatchbacks, GM, Saturn
Opel Corsa to be sold on U.S. soil in five years
Bob Lutz confirmed at the Paris Motor Show last week that indeed the Opel Corsa would be sold in the U.S. Automotive News, however, is reporting that the Corsa sold here will not be the current model that was just introduced, but rather the next generation Corsa that is at least five years away. We already know the Corsa will be branded as a Saturn in the U.S., and GM hopes to move about 80,000 to 100,000 units in the U.S. annually. Those kinds of numbers mean the Corsa will have to be produced "locally", but none of the automaker's recently shuttered U.S. plants should get their hopes up. Because the profit margin on cars like the Corsa are so small, Mexico will likely be chosen as the Corsa's point of production due to its lower operating and labor costs. Either way, we're glad at least one domestic is more than willing to share its international lineup with us.
[Source: Automotive News – sub required]
_opt_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Eric B 2:13PM (10/02/2006)
Five years?
Lutz, grow a couple and get this stuff over here now!
Dump that cheap Korean crap you try and pass off as Chevys and do what Ford should be doing: bring your Euro lineup to North America pronto - and don't, for the love of God, dumb down the chassis.
Reply
Ryan 2:14PM (10/02/2006)
We are going to be on hatchback overload in the USA before we know it. Hey the more choice the better, it just seems like the 80's all over again!
Reply
judd 2:17PM (10/02/2006)
Talk about being late to the party.
Reply
Jamie 2:47PM (10/02/2006)
Bob Lutz:
"(Similarly) we thought Corsa we thought—with fuel prices and the obvious success of the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris—would be a good fit for the U.S. It turns out this is the exact reason why we’re running all this globally now. GM Europe said, ‘Well, we never thought it would go to the States.’ So it’s not designed for federal crash regulations, and it would take three years to re-engineer the whole thing to make it U.S. compatible. It would take so much money, it would take so long that the remaining life of the Corsa would be too short to justify. But the next-gen Corsa will be fully U.S. compatible."
Reply
David F 2:55PM (10/02/2006)
The house is on fire and they just backed the lawn mower over the garden hose. Get this here NOW.
Reply
Zo 3:06PM (10/02/2006)
LOL!
First we had the SUV craze. Now we are going to have the Hatchback craze. But, since we Americans can't just have a standard hatch and we need the "hot" hatches with the 250 HP+ motors which only get 18mpg (See MazdaSpeed 3), we will be no better off. We will eventually have smaller cars with the same MPG of the SUVs
Since the sports sedans all now have 300+ HP, there will be no help there either.
I love it! We have gotten smaller to waste the same amount of gas!
Reply
Bocephus 3:22PM (10/02/2006)
What about Saturn? I thought that Saturn was simply now the American version of Opel. Why not slap a Saturn symbol on the front and not confuse your dealer network anymore than it already is?
Reply
Bocephus 3:25PM (10/02/2006)
Alright my fault, I missed the line "We already know the Corsa will be branded as a Saturn in the U.S." Sorry folks.
Reply
Ultima 3:28PM (10/02/2006)
Great, this is how the asian car makers should be tackled.
Reply
Tal D 3:31PM (10/02/2006)
Does Lutz realize the enormity of five years and actually how long a period of time it is? This guy is counting on updating this car for sale to th U.S. market in 2012. What does he think the rest of the auto industry is going to do? Sit on their hands? By that time , we will probably be driving lower priced, quality autos from China, India and who knows where else.Look how well the the Korean auto industry has improved lately. They are following the same basic trend set by Germany and Japan. They all have built and exported pretty decent vehicles to the U.S. then made improvements continually over the years. It has taken F/GM/DC too long to realize how serious the US consumer feels about quality.(or has it). Overall the emports are still superior especially in reliablity, fit,finish,endurance and longivity. But, we can expect a rehash of a 6 or 7 year old design in 5 years. Great long term thinking.
Reply
Richard Warren 3:31PM (10/02/2006)
Saturn: "Like always, like never before"
Got that right, we are a rebadged car company and everything we stood for other than full list price selling to suckers stays the same.
To hell with Saturn, get the entire Opel line here brand it as such and do it quick.
Reply
Misaniovent 3:48PM (10/02/2006)
So what will the Ion be between now and then?
Reply
ron 3:58PM (10/02/2006)
GM must think the average American consumer is dumber than a rock! They could pull this crap in the past because it wasn't as easy as it is today to find out what cars they build in the other parts of the world, and what we have to settle for. They must think the American consumer will buy anthing they try to shove down our throat. They gave away the small car market to the Jpanese over the past 40 years by doing this; you would think they would have learned something by now! Apparently not!!!
Reply
Kumar 4:45PM (10/02/2006)
X2 on axing Saturn in favor of the Opel name.
Looks like business as usual for American auto, 5 year business plan, which is what got them in the SUV pipe dream hole in the first place...lack of short term flexibility. I think even fiat will be over here before this thing makes it.
Maybe they're trying to match the introduction with that of the euro focus, whenever ford brings that thing here......
Reply
Jamie 4:50PM (10/02/2006)
13. GM must think the average American consumer is dumber than a rock! They could pull this crap in the past because it wasn't as easy as it is today to find out what cars they build in the other parts of the world, and what we have to settle for. They must think the American consumer will buy anthing they try to shove down our throat. They gave away the small car market to the Jpanese over the past 40 years by doing this; you would think they would have learned something by now! Apparently not!!!
Posted at 2:25PM on Oct 2nd 2006 by ron 0 stars
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Oh cut the pretense will you! You and all the other armchair CEOs who like to berate GM for being "stupid" wouldn't buy anything domestic anyway. So your opinions don't matter.
They don't think consumers are too stupid to see what's on offer in Europe; they KNOW some consumers are too stupid to consider buying anything but that which comes out of Japan (or what is approved of by their neighbors and peers).
GM has TONS of problems, but YOU won't be part of the solution that's for sure.
Reply
GB 5:00PM (10/02/2006)
Poster #1.... Korean ..... , NOt at Hyundai/Kia, friend.
Go read their awards, but Daewoo, yeah, I agree,. BE SPECIFIC when ya flame things( I'd rather be seen pushing an Elantra than drivung a Cobalt).
GM took a HOT looking THREE DOOR ANTARA and RUINED IT.... they made it a 5 door, and took the last generation Santa fe styling(Looks 90% like the 05 Santa Fe, in fact side profile), and added big tail lights, and even uglier plastics, and then made it sooo boring, I fell asleep looking at it!
GM could ruin a good dream!
Reply
SleighBoy 5:03PM (10/02/2006)
Attn: GM
For hatch-mania revival.. give us a Chevy hatch and bring back the Citation name ( don't forget the an X-11 version ). :)
I'm still awaiting the Chevrolet Celebrity ressurection, but I doubt it is going to happen.
Reply
Mark 5:03PM (10/02/2006)
Yup, just rename Saturn to Opel and be done with it.
Cute car, btw.
Reply
akatsuki 5:08PM (10/02/2006)
Here is a brilliant idea... Why not develop the next generation Corsa here, now? Then take it over to Europe once you got the right balance of handling and have paid off a lot of the debt?
No? Then burn GM, because that is all you know how to do.
Reply
Juan of GM 5:32PM (10/02/2006)
VIVA MEXICO!
MEXICO FOREVER!
I AM MEXICANO!
GM IS MEXICANO!
Americans go back to Britain!
Soon, Spanish will be the continental language of North America, I mean Norte España!
Reply