Vauxhall is committed to producing superminis in the B-segment and has no plans to exit this area of the market as its great rival the Ford Fiesta has, design boss Mark Adams has confirmed.
The revised Vauxhall Corsa has just been revealed and a successor will be forthcoming later in the decade. Speaking at a showcase for the new model, Adams said Vauxhall being part of Stellantis was key for it being able to commit to a future in the supermini segment.
“It’s scale and smart sharing,” said Adams, when asked how Vauxhall was able to make a success still out of superminis.
Adams added that while the Corsa might have a close relationship in areas hidden to customers underneath to the likes of the Peugeot 208 and Citroen C3, the customers would not be able to tell the relationship between the cars in areas that mattered 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.”
Indeed, Adams said that Stellantis didn’t just create one ‘toolbox’ with an architecture for each brand to make their own model, they made “one and a half toolboxes, which allows brands to then add their own bits on”.
Vauxhall was now realising its goal of becoming an upper mainstream brand, seen it the higher transaction prices paid by buyers and improvements to the brand image, products and profitability, but Adams said Vauxhall had no plans to push to become a premium brand and desert its existing customer base.
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There will be a new Corsa, but it won't be cheap.
I don’t subscribe to the view that everything needs to be bigger, heavier, more complicated and more premium. Nothing wrong with competent, straightforward well engineered small cars.
I agree, but manufacturers just seem to want to complicate them all the time, add equipment and charge silly prices. We heard the designer of the forthcoming VW ID 2 For all saying how he was pushing to keep such features as hidden door handles and animated lighting within the costing - why? I can't be the only person who wants a small, well engineered but simple vehicle, sold at a cheaper price.
Your not the only one, but manufacturers are not solely to blame. Automotive suppliers keep lobbying goverments to legislate compulsory safety and emissions kit while here in the UK customers are partly to blame for things like metallic paint, air-con and alloy wheels which are nowdays deemed essential. I had hoped that the inherent simplicity of electric cars might herald a new era of basic transport - but no: we must have semi autonomy, internet connectivity and complex infotainment systems that nobody can work...