Fiat to Supply Opel with Commercial Vehicles Made in Turkey

In this day and age, automakers are either buying each other up forming new groups or constantly deepening their cooperation with their counterparts. The Fiat Group, which recently acquired a 20% stake in Chrysler, is now expanding its commercial vehicle joint ventures to include GM's European Opel and Vauxhall units.
The Italian company, which has a joint venture for larger LCVs with the PSA Peugeot-Citroen Group, has signed a contract agreement with GM to supply vehicles comprising of several variants to Opel starting from December 2011. The new model will replace the German firm's Combo light commercial vehicle, keeping the same name. The range will include a number of derivatives, such as cargo vans, passenger vehicles and chassis cabs.


The new Opel Combo will be based on the same platform as the current Fiat Doblo models, with production to take place at Fiat's Tofas plant in Bursa, Turkey where the Doblo is manufactured. According to the announcement, the project calls for an initial supply of up to 6,000 vehicles in 2011, and gradually increase to at 250,000 units per year.
The new Combo will be sold by Vauxhall and Opel dealers in Europe and other markets outside of North America starting in January 2012.

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German Police Recruits Opel Insignia Sports Tourer

The Opel Insignia Sports Tourer, the sedan version of which is marketed in the States as the Buick Regal, has been recruited for duty by the Polizei force of the German State of Hesse. The authorities announced today that they have ordered a total of 800 patrol cars from Opel, with the first 100 examples to be delivered this year.

All Insignia patrol cars will come fitted with special equipment including additional rear warning lights with LED tech, a pull out tray system for the trunk which can be replaced with a transport box for police dogs.

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Official: 2011 Opel Corsa gets New Face and 3.5lt/100km - 67.2mpg EcoFlex Diesel

Enough with the rumors and the teasing from Opel's European site configurators; the 2011/2012 Corsa facelift has finally been officially revealed. The subtle restyling comes four years after the presentation of the fourth generation model less than 12 months after Opel tweaked the supermini's engine range and chassis.

The updated Corsa dons a sharper face with chiseled headlamps, a new upper grille and a restyled front bumper featuring a wider and taller lower grille, plus different foglamp housings. The new look is complemented with six new alloy wheel designs and a larger, redesigned Opel Blitz on the tailgate.

These changes bring the car more in line with Opel's latest offerings such as the Meriva and Astra, though some may also find a few similarities with the Mazda2 [up front]. And as you can see in the picture right above, Opel seems to poke some fun at its newly found smiley face syndrome...


Inside, the dashboard molding sports a more textured skin while all trim levels have been updated with new fabrics and/or decors. There's also an available new Touch & Connect navigation system featuring a commuter function that uses TMC information to propose alternative routes in case of traffic problems, even when navigation is not active.

For the new model year, Opel has also added a new trim level called the Color Line Series, which will be available across Europe. The Color Line Series models can be equipped with an optional "Linea" pack, featuring two large stripes stretching across the length of the body with matching colored 17-inch wheels and exterior mirror caps.

A new Corsa EcoFlex 1.3 CDTI [diesel] with 95HP and standard Start/Stop technology also enters the range. Thanks to the start/stop system, the three-door version's fuel consumption in the combined cycle is reduced from 3.7 to 3.5 liters/100 km [67.2 mpg US] and the emissions from 98 to only 94 g/km CO2. The five-door variant achieves 3.6 l/100 km and emits just 95 g/km CO2.

According to Opel, in city driving the updated EcoFlex models returns a fuel consumption of 4.2 liter per 100 kilometers instead of 4.6 l/100 km previously.

The modestly refreshed Opel will go on sale across Europe in January 2011.

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2011 Opel Corsa Facelift Pictures Found and Confirmed on Official Site

A couple of weeks, we told you about a series of photos showing the 2011/2012 Opel Corsa facelift. To recap, according to numerous tipsters including Carscoop reader Javier, the pictures were found momentarily on Opel's German site, but were removed shortly after some users started uploading the images on the firm's Facebook page. Unfortunately, we weren't able to verify the claim then.

But Javier kept on looking and this time, he was able to tip us off in a timely manner about the Corsa facelift making its appearance on Opel's Belgian website. And yes, we can confirm their authenticity. The pictures of the standard 3-door and 5-door Corsa as well as of the OPC hot hatch that you see in our gallery after the jump were downloaded by us.

The only visible change over the current Corsa concerns the refreshed fascia that receives a crispier front grille similar to the one found on the updated 2011 Antara we told about yesterday, reshaped headlamps and a new design for the bumper with a wider lower grille and taller housings for the fog lamps (expect the OPC).

That's all we have for now, but we'll update this story as soon as something pops up on our radar.

Kudos to Javier for the tip!

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2011 Opel Antara Receives Minor Facelift with Renewed Engine Lineup

Following in the footsteps of its sister Chevrolet Captiva model, the Opel / Vauxhall Antara has received a mid-life refresh. It hasn't been around for long so there are no big styling changes for this facelift, just minor tweaks here and there to keep the crossover model looking up to date in a line-up of newer Opel products such as the Meriva, Astra and Insignia.

For the 2011MY, the Antara gets a new front grille with a less prominent logo and redesigned front bumper with new fog lights and lower grille styling, plus modified rear light clusters and optional 19-inch light-metal wheels. Interior changes come in the form of a new center console with extra storage solutions, new materials and added color options.


The most important changes for the Antara are hidden under the hood as Opel has fully re-worked the engine line-up, which is Euro-5 compliant. The latest entry to the range is a newly-developed 2.2-liter CDTI Turbo diesel, which comes with two outputs: a 163hp version that offers 36 hp more than its predecessor model, and a 184 hp variant offering 34 hp more power.

The 163 hp variant is available in front-wheel or all-wheel drive as well as with manual or automatic six-gear transmissions, while the 184 hp also offers a choice of manual or automatic transmissions, and comes with all-wheel drive as standard.

As for the gasoline line-up, the 2.4 liter four-cylinder unit now produces 170hp, or, 30 hp more power and like the diesel variants, it is is available in front-wheel or all-wheel drive and comes as manual or automatic six-gear transmission.

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