Previewed at the New York motor show in April this year, the all-new Spark – the Barina moniker will be dropped – has been caught undisguised in Melbourne by GoAuto snappers.
The all-new car will benefit from localised tuning, a stronger, stiffer body and updated powertrains, including a 73kW 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine backed for the first time in a GM car by a continuously variable transmission (CVT).
The Spark will be sourced, as before, from GM’s South Korean plant. Australia has played a hand in the design, with the Spark’s new look overseen by former Holden design director and current international design vice president Michal Simcoe, while much of the global vehicle’s chassis and powertrain tuning has been undertaken at the Lang Lang proving ground in Victoria and on Australian roads.
What does that mean? If its new, its different. If it wasn't, it would be old.
Frankly the 16 Chevy Spark I saw at the NYIAS looks nicer than this; I really don't understand why they changed the front lighting and some of the body creases of the Chevy to convert it to a Holden with Opel styling (TM). So that means the ROK plant will be building two different designs of a low margin small car, one only for the Aus/NZ market and the other for everywhere else (except South Africa, where unlike Australia, we have a car industry so we build our own Sparks- but you can have it all if you can teach us how to play rugby like you). Yep, GM does some really strange things...!
Been saying this for a while now - South Korea is building LHD Mokka and Karl, RHD Mokka and Viva. Australia, NZ and a couple of other territories are the only RHD markets for Trax.....and small numbers at that.
Makes sense to simplify things and for South Korea to keep Trax LHD and build Vauxhall-derived products (Mokka/Viva/Spark) RHD.
Roll on MokkaTrax - but we'll miss the Koala nose!
The mention of 1.4 Turbo in the article is an error. We'll be getting the 1.4 NA in Australia, which will come as a 5 speed manual plus our very first CVT Auto.
I'm still not certain which version we're actually getting (Spark or Karl/Viva). It makes sense to get the Viva to fit in with the rest of the Euro sourced product, but I was under the impression that the Viva only came with the manual trans and 1.0lt 3 cyl motor. The car in the spy shots also has a forward camera plus a sunroof. I'm not sure if we'll get a car this highly specced for actual sale, but you never know.
They did show a car at the last dealer meeting in Melbourne, but no one from our dealership could go, so we weren't present to see which version is coming for sale. I know they're talking it up big time and they expect big things from the car. I think even with the right pricing structure they might only achieve around 300 to 400 sales, which is not going to mean much for the volume stakes, but would give them a pretty good share of the micro car segment.
Trax is due for a facelift next year too. I hope they do a swap for the Mokka at this time, because it appears to be a much more conservative looking car. Trax looks like a joke (looks too cheap looking for people to actually take it seriously), despite the fact it actually drives quite well. I had heard that Holden has some form of agreement with GM Korea to take the Trax version for some time, but I'm not sure which this is actually due to expire (will be 3 years since the launch in Q3 next year).
Same car but different roles. The KARL doesn't need to be trendy, lifestyle or sporty looking. That's why the ADAM exists. If you want a lifestyle city car, buy the ADAM. If you want a sporty car, buy the ADAM S. But, if you only want a cheap, safe and economical car, the KARL is your choice. I think this two cars strategy will work well for Opel.
base price:
KARL €9,500 (fully loaded ~14,500)
ADAM €11,950
ADAM Open Air €15,190
ADAM Rocks €15,340
ADAM S €18,890
ADAM Rocks S €20,000
About time GM aligned Opel with Holden as both make RHD vehicles in the versions (5-Door Hatch) that sell in Europe and Australia.
Only problem before was high cost European production, now it moves to lower cost locations where they can be profitable.
Still think that Holden should be assembling at least one product in Australia to improve its brand name, but that is not likely at this time.
At least GM is getting one part of the equation right, and is one that will lead to a more profitable GM in the long run.
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