Geneva '08 Preview: Opel/Vauxhall Meriva Concept
by Noah Joseph on Feb 6th 2008 at 10:33AM 
GM's European divisions are preparing to unveil their latest show car at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show next month. The Meriva Concept is Opel and Vauxhall's study for what form the next Euro minivan could take.
The Meriva Concept, as previewed by the concept sketch above, draws on the previous GTC Coupe and Flextreme concepts and applies the theme to a monocab form, a segment in which Opel and Vauxhall account for one fifth of continental sales between the Zafira, Meriva and Agila MPVs. Expect the Meriva Concept to preview the direction that GM's European tall wagons will take in the near future, which could end up finding its way into a Saturn model or two on our side of the Atlantic. Press release after the jump.
[Source: Vauxhall]
PRESS RELEASE
Meriva Concept to make Geneva debut
Already Europe's market leader in the monocab sector, with one in five pan-European sales being a Zafira, Meriva or Agila, Vauxhall and Opel are set to unveil their vision of the future at the Geneva Motor Show on March 4th.
The Meriva Concept draws styling cues from previous GM styling studies to show how the company's next generation small monocab could look, including the distinctive tick-shaped swage line and neat rear lamp clusters that typified the GTC Coupe and Flextreme models.
Another neat feature of the Meriva Concept is the shape of the glass area, which swoops down towards the B-Pillar – a feature that would allow rear seat passengers a better all-round view if it were offered on a production model.
The Meriva Concept is one of three GM world premieres set to appear at the show.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jruhi4 10:58AM (2/06/2008)
Hmmm...it seems that downward kink on rear side windows aft of the B-pillar is set to become a future car styling cue. It debuted on the Hyundai Genesis Coupe Concept (with its production version tipped to have it as well) and now it appears on this Opel/Vauxhall...
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psarhjinian 11:25AM (2/06/2008)
The Meriva is basically a (very) tall Corsa. It's also a vehicle that should be sold as a Saturn. No one else in North America makes anything like it (Honda comes close with the Fit) and it'd allow Saturn to really carve out a niche for itself, rather than sell me-too cars in existing segments.
I had one as a rental. Slow (8v gas version from 2005), not entirely as agile as a subcompact, but really versatile. The rear reclining 40/20/40 split seat was a neat and useful feature.
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M 11:53AM (2/06/2008)
Thatwindow shape (or some version of it) was also scene on the HCD-5 Crosstour and the HCD-9 Talus Hyundai concept vehicles!
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Alexandre Souza 11:58AM (2/06/2008)
Hey, there IS a Meriva van sold in Brazil by Chevrolet that looks a lot like that one! :oO
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A.N.E. 2:48PM (2/06/2008)
Hyundai windows!
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the law 2:52PM (2/06/2008)
Would make a nice people mover for Saturn and maybe Chevy version.
I see some Beat in there too, maybe it's b/c of the Uni-Cab shape GM has been working on for sometime.
Next corsa will be built in NA so I'm sure this will get the go as both Corsa and this 'Mini-van' wont sell in great numbers unless gas price hit the $5+ mark.
What happened to the Corsa 4x4?
That thing was pretty cool.Wonder if thats still in play for US market?
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OshKosh 9:05PM (2/06/2008)
I think this window feature was first seen on the 2007 citroen Picasso
http://photo.netcarshow.com/Citroen-C4_Picasso_2007_photo_22.jpg
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ugg.tryptophan 9:16PM (2/06/2008)
that is a cool sketch
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