General Motors's Opel to take on Fiat and its 500 with New Mini Car

Last month, we told you that General Motors' European Opel / Vauxhall division announced the development of a new small car below the Corsa. Now, Autonews is reporting the car, which is codenamed "Junior", will be a funky upscale proposal designed to compete with Fiat's 500 mini in one of the smallest - literally - segments of them all.

Opel/Vauxhall's sales and marketing head Alain Visser hinted that the car will be an "iPod on wheels" and aimed squarely at young consumers with their high-tech needs. The "Junior", which begins production in Germany in 2013, will also be offered in an electric flavor.

Opel CEO Nick Reilly says. "It will have the latest infotainment systems and good fuel economy to make it environmentally friendly. For that, buyers will pay a little more."

In addition to being willing to pay more,potential buyers will be green, cool, and all the other bla-bla everyone's pushing these days. Regardless of the marketing gibberish, Opel's recent offerings have been attractive enough to indicate a promising 500-fighter.

By Phil Alex

Source: Autonews

Note: All photos are of the 2004 Opel Trixx Concept Model and NOT of the new mini GM is readying

Opel's Hot GTC Paris Concept: Live Photos and New Video Trailer

Meet the star of Opel's Paris Motor Show stand and probably one of the best looking concepts of this year's show, the GTC Paris Concept that will spawn next year's three-door Astra model.

Even though the mainstream variants of the production Astra GTC will lose the muscular bumpers, LEDs and tall 21-inch wheels of the design study, it's safe to say that what you see here is more or less what you'll get when the car arrives in Opel and Vauxhall showrooms across Europe in 2011.

For those wanting something closer in looks to the concept, there's good news as the flagship OPC model is expected to keep most of the styling features including the chunky bumpers.

The same goes for the GTC Paris Concept's direct injection and turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 290-horsepower that strongly hints at the specifications of the Golf R / Scirocco R-rivaling Astra GTC OPC model, which is also due in late 2011.

For full details on Opel's Paris Show attention-grabber, hop over to our previous story here.

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