Vauxhall/PSA sharing deal to extend to new models

Vauxhall will consider adding further cars to its three-model platform-sharing deal with PSA.

"We may extend our platform-sharing deal in future," Vauxhall boss Karl-Thomas Neumann told Autocar at the Geneva motor show.

Neumann didn’t specify the models, but excluded mainstream cars such as the Vauxhall Corsa, Vauxhall Astra and Insignia, which can be included in global GM platforms to share costs. An all-new Corsa is nearly ready for production and will go on sale next year, followed shortly after by a new Agila, an all-new city car also based on a new platform.

That leaves future niche models, possibly including a new full-size SUV, known as the Monza in internal documents that have leaked on the web, as likely joint ventures.

Monza was also the name of the Frankfurt show concept that showed the next direction for Vauxhall/Opel styling.

At the moment PSA and Vauxhall/Opel have agreed a platform-sharing deal for the next-generation Meriva, Zafira and Combo van models, which will launch over the next two to four years. 

The Vauxhall and PSA versions will be differentiated by unique sheetmetal and styling details, but will be powered only by PSA engines. Neumann said: "It would be too expensive to change the engines. And to what benefit?"

Neumann wouldn’t confirm whether the next-gen Meriva will retain its unique clamshell-door arrangement, either. "It’s a good question. But we will make it a Vauxhall/Opel, we don’t want to make the same car as PSA."

The three models were chosen for platform sharing because their sales volume doesn’t justify individual investment and because they can’t share global architectures with other GM global cars.

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