Britain's CAR Magazine has reported that Opel-Vauxhall has frozen the design of their new premium subcompact for 2013 that'll compete with the Mini Cooper and Fiat 500.
Known by the codename of "Junior" after a 1983 concept car, it's reportedly 3.7 "meters" long, which is a funny unit of measurement equal to 4.046 yards, 12.14 feet or 145.67 inches. That makes it an inch shorter than a Mini and 5 inches shorter than the Cinquecento. It'll be based on a shortened version of the Opel Corsa subcompact and unlike the Mini or Fiat, the Junior won't be working from a retro inspiration. Rather it'll be a clean-sheet creation.
According to GM Europe President Nick Reilly, the Junior will be a "chic and stylish minicar ... that fits with today's hip, urban spirit."
Sounds to us like the perfect car to knock the Geritol out of Buick once and for all. Buick already has the Opel Insignia in its line-up as the Regal, while the brand's status as the quasi-premium division within GM certainly seems in line with a premium subcompact. It certainly seems more interesting than a reworked version of the Cruze.
The last time Buick made a subcompact hatchback, it was called the Skyhawk. Let's just forget we mentioned that.
1487 says:
12:55 PM, 10/20/10
" It certainly seems more interesting than a reworked version of the Cruze."
Its an Astra sedan, not a "reworked Cruze". There have been plenty of pics of the Chinese version and it looks nothing like the Cruze. The inside is straight from the Astra.
carguru12 says:
01:01 PM, 10/20/10
Definitely not. If it's not "Premium", it's not a Buick.
1487 says:
01:07 PM, 10/20/10
Yeah the Verano is small enough, dont bring this car here as a Buick.
firstwagon says:
01:17 PM, 10/20/10
I'll need to know more about the car but the idea is good.
If it competes with the Mini then it is clearly a premium car and from I heard the Verano weighs as much as my old 98 Taurus. Lots of room for a smaller car here.
Unless of course Buick really wants to remain the old mans car brand.
rail1972 says:
04:37 PM, 10/20/10
Yes, bring it over.
starliner54 says:
04:43 PM, 10/20/10
All the brands in Buick's price range are planning to market a premium mini-sport in the US, so this segment is going to get exciting. Chevy will soon have an array of small cars to sell, as long as the mini is premium, there's a niche for Buick to market this vehicle. This could actually be a kind of halo car for the "new" Buick. I like this line of thought.
stovt001 says:
10:44 PM, 10/20/10
Riswick's mocking of Magrath made my day.
stephen987 says:
05:11 AM, 10/21/10
First they'll have to knock the Geritol out of Buick DEALERS. My local dealership has put an aftermarket PADDED VINYL ROOF on the only 2011 Regal on the lot.
gordancin says:
09:08 AM, 10/21/10
FIRST: they should have put the Buick version of the Cruze compact on hold until they figured out how to turn it into a truly competitive 5 door (four door hatchback) thats truly distinctive from the Chevy version (or used the Opel Astra platform instead). SECOND: they should have re-worked the original Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky platform to give us a real affordable roadster option to the Mazda Miata. (Can you imagine how well this would have worked?!) THIRD: they could work with Opel to deliver this premium subcompact. But not before dealing with the first to affordable and easy to accomplish IMAGE BUILDING tasks mentioned beforehand. But what do we know? We just love cars and love to drive them, right?