Opel Karl (wtf?)

colm_mcm

So, hot on the heels of Adam- The car which, at its launch, the lovely PR girl (who didn't actually have a driving licence) from Opel assured would steal sales left, right and centre from the Fiat 500 and mini - comes another car with a blokes name - Karl

This is basically a badge engineered Chevrolet Spark, which was the new name for the Chevrolet Matiz, which used to be called the Daewoo Matiz.

So the pedigree is there! (and it's a German)

Review here
http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/motors/first-drive-stylish-opel-karl-fails-to-seize-opportunity-1.2259744



Where will it all end? Will they rename the Insignia the "Fred", instead of driving 9 seat Vivaros, will American tourists now rent a "Jason"


Adam Opel's son was called ?Karl, so I guess there's some logic behind it....

unkel

Karl would appeal to the underdog loving Irish mentality. Karl Marx obviously being the original communist. Plenty of lads called Karl around.

Maybe it's just me, but I sure hope there won't be any cars called Yasser or Mullah Mohammed...

bazz26

It will be called the Viva in the UK which is supposed to stir up great memories of the original Vauxhall Viva.

Actually how many small cars do GM need in Europe? All rebadged mongrels that sold poorly - Mk1 Agila (Suzuki Wagen R), Mk2 Agila (Suzuki Splash) and now this rebadged Daewoo.

I'd say Claudia would even find it hard to keep a straight face while saying "It's a German" for this.

joujoujou

unkel wrote: »

[...]

Maybe it's just me, but I sure hope there won't be any cars called Yasser or Mullah Mohammed...

I'd happily own Ibrahim, Mustafa, Ahmed or Omar!

Ionised

bazz26 wrote:

It will be called the Viva in the UK which is supposed to stir up great memories of the original Vauxhall Viva.

My first car was a brown Viva. Luxurious biege vinyl interior that on a sunny day would burn the skin off your legs. Oh happy days!

Pov06

Wow, all these new small Opels seem to be hideous looking.

I couldn't stop laughing when I started noticing Opel Adam ads on Boards...

DaveHumphreys

Spent much of last week driving one. Compared to most of its direct competition it's actually a reasonably good car. Drives well and has an interior that doesn't look or feel cheap.

BMJD

I'm surprised that Vauxhall didn't rename these the Andy, Dave or Chris for the UK market

colm_mcm

Maybe they want to sell some!

road_high

bazz26 wrote: »

It will be called the Viva in the UK which is supposed to stir up great memories of the original Vauxhall Viva.

Actually how many small cars do GM need in Europe? All rebadged mongrels that sold poorly - Mk1 Agila (Suzuki Wagen R), Mk2 Agila (Suzuki Splash) and now this rebadged Daewoo.

I'd say Claudia would even find it hard to keep a straight face while saying "It's a German" for this.

Those ads are really taking the piss now. About two or three of their models are actually built in Germany anymore. The Mokka is Korean ffs. It's kinda pathetic the way they're following VW twenty years later with the German thing.