Now that GM's Rethink American brand has finalized plans to stock its showrooms with a Belgium-made Astra subcompact, The General is looking to its European passenger car division to aid its American Revolutionaries at Chevy. Automotive News [sub] reports that GM's Hamtramck, Michigan plant will build a compact minivan in 2009 based on the next-generation Opel Zafira. The seven-passenger vehicle will be produced for both domestic consumption and foreign delectation. Despite a long and lackluster history in the minivan genre– Lumina, Venture, Uplander (not to mention the Astro)– GM says it expects to sell 100k units annually in the U.S., stickering somewhere in the high 20's to low 30's. Needless to say, Saturn will get a version and then, who knows? Pontiac? Saab? GMC?
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
Oh good! An early entry for the TWA 2009 awards!
Seriously, maybe GM should just forget the whole minivan thing. It’s not like they’ve ever been good at it.
This is so insane I’m going blind.
1. Saturn is supposed to be getting the Opels, not Chevy.
2. GM has never made a competitive minivan. Now is NOT the time to start.
3. This is going to be a smaller minivan than the other stuff on the market (i.e. Sienna, Odyssey, Caravan). That tends to be bad for business in this country, in this segment.
4. Similar products have done badly: Mazda5 is excellent, has poor sales. Chrysler is canceling the Pacifica. The Taurus X is doing OK at best. These vehicles are not money-makers.
5. GM already rolled out minivan replacements — the Lambda SUVs: the Enclave, poor selling Outlook, and GMC Acadia. Chevy is ALSO supposed to be getting one of those.
/end rant
The Zafira is supposed to be a nice MPV, from what I’ve read. Perhaps GM’s timing will be right on, as the Chevy Zafira derivative won’t be out for another couple of years. Gas prices are only going to go up, small car sales are picking up – but as per Justin B, Mazda5 and Rondo sales are currently in the cellar and those vehicles are selling around $20k, not $30k.
Whoa! We’ve been lambasting GM for building big stupid cars, and they announce plans to build a very intelligently designed, well regarded (in Europe) compact efficient micro-van, and we’re all over them already?? This is exactly the kind of more efficient well-designed vehicle we’ve been exhorting them to build.
How well the market will a accept it is another question. The only vehicle similar to the very compact Zafira is the Mazda 5. The Pacifica/Taurus X and Lambdas are whales compared to this, and not really in the same category at all.
The marketplace is shifting towards more efficient vehicles (the Zafira should be called a micro-van in the US), and can be a viable alternative to the bloated barges that “mini”vans and CUV’s have become.
Um, actually this isn’t a bad idea. A car for the US and Europe designed for both markets from the get go and built in the US? If done right, perhaps we will get one of those cool European products we are always lamenting about, if done right.
Assuming that GM survives to build the thing in Michigan, I am hoping that for once, GM is actually doing “something RIGHT”.
Gas prices just went up another 20 cents in my locale, within the week. Rumor has it that we will be seeing either 50 cent increases in prices, – OR – fuel shortages. Because, shoot me if I’m wrong here, but when crude oil was at $86 a barrel around the time of Katrina short-term shortages, gasoline hit $3.66 where I live – and right now, with oil at $97 a barrel, gasoline is actually at $3.25 a gallon…. this tells me that the rumored 50 cent gas price increase is coming. Like, soon.
So, IF (HUGE IF) GM don’t screw up the vehicle by lumping it with a gasoholic monstrous V6 engine, adding 15″ to the body length and so forth and so on, the Zafira “might” actually be viable in the US by 2009-2010.
I rented one of the very last prior-gen Zafira minivans in the UK in the summer of 2005, and it was “barely acceptable” (the diesel stank, the driving position was bus-like, the power was dismal, my poor left leg was killing me, and I subconsciously kept double-clutching the thing because it felt so bus-like). However, the later Zafira is meant to be improved, from what I’d read about it in the UK auto press, and the next gen car hopefully is better yet.
I heart MPVs. If my wife would drive a Mazda5 I’d buy one tomorrow and take the huge hit on my T&C (she even drives a stick…sigh). But this is here right now, isn’t it..Rondo? This is a good candidate for the Aura wagon though.
Still, if they bring it, just call it a Malibu wagon—er, I mean “Malibu X”
Like guyincognito’s comment stressed, “If done right” I don’t see this as a bad idea.
Gas prices will rise and the popularity of little van-lette thingys should increase.
Imagine that, GM may have a new, “relevant” vehicle out at the right time instead of playing catch-up like usual.
I just bought a Mazda5 for my growing family. I’d rather drive it- than a massive truck. I know, sales are not great for this niche. Fixed rear doors may help.
Makes sense investment costs already paid for, an attractive practical people carrier that won’t drink gas like a minivan, it’s very well received in europe. Should be interesting soon, i’ve seen Ford S-max’s driven around michigan, maybe bringing over some euro practicality to add something different to the mix is not a bad thing for the 2.8888367356573543637356.
I think the key issue is not whether the Zafira is a good car – it’s a fantastic one – but whether it would sell in the U.S. in large enough numbers to make it worthwhile. That, and what brand it should be sold under. I think the clear answers are (1) it’s not going to sell in huge volume and (2) it should be a Saturn, not a Chevy.
I too love the Mazda5, but sales are awful.
With the dollar as weak as it is, its going to be hard for GM to do this profitably. People are not going to pay a premium for a small people carrier made by GM.
Hello! I have nothing BUT Mazdas in my family(Dealer Shop Foreman) and the 2nd to last addition was a ’07 Mazda5 for my wife. We LOVE this car! GREAT gas mileage, utility, comfort, power, etc. Doesnt sell a lot? WHO CARES? We have ours!!
Far easier to handle than her ’92 MPV Ive taken over as the family truck with 40% better gas mileage to boot.
The latest addition was a Miata for me. Solstice or Saturn Sky?
Not even in the same ballpark!
What the? Justin took the words right out of my mouth. I want to see the Zafira here, but it’s perfect as a Saturn, not a Chevy. Giving it to both? When is GM going to learn to stop competing against itself?
Now a Saab variant, that could be interesting. Volvo ought to already be selling a minivan (it’s perfect for their niche!). Saab could steal their thunder. Problem is, in a few years Saturn will have moved even more upmarket than Saab.
Justin, Brian, you have it exactly. This has Saturn all over it. Call it something cute, then bag the Outlook. The Outlook is WAY too big to be a Saturn. If this Opel were a Saturn it could twist in the wind for years and no one would notice or possibly care that no one was buying them (in the U.S.). Oh, and I’d probably buy one, with a manual. As a Chevy, it needs to sell what, 100000 a year? Good luck with that.
I find the Mazda5 a better fit for me than the 3…the 3 is too small for my lard ass.
Now that Chrysler has abandoned the small van market, it’s time for the General or Ford to move into the gap. The minivan ain’t so mini any more.
A lot of people want utility, but not in a 200″+ length and a 2.5-ton weight.
That size and configuration of vehicle makes all kinds of sense. I hope that GM builds it right and that people buy it.
For heavens sake don’t waste time on a Saturn version. Saturn doesn’t have the brand reach to matter. GM is going to live or die on Chevy sales, everything else is a distraction.
I drove the Zafira a while ago (in OPC “Opel Performance Center” format). It had 180HP, fat tires, and a well-made leather interior.
It was stonking fast, could seat seven w/o luggage, or you could fold the seats down in a disappearing act to seat five with loads of luggage space.
Quite a niche car. Not quite my cup of tea (why would I want a hard-riding, fast cornering mpv?) but a very impressive vehicle that has earned its cult status.
I think I demonstrated/guarded this thing in 12/04 at a focus group. At the time they were looking at two different mechanisms for folding the back seat for third row access (cruelly, the focus group involved people getting into and exiting the third row) and the engineer had come over from Italy to make sure it was working properly. I only had one pair of pants split before my eyes, though. Since it was a prototype/mock-up, all the roof-line pulls (“oh s#it” bars, I’ve heard them called) were glued on, and we had to reattach them when people ignored our warnings and grabbed them to get out.
People seemed to like it. It was up against the Chrysler Pacifica, the Subaru Tribeca (with the famous flying vagina!), the Ford Freestyle and the Honda Odyssey, IIRC.
GM should make Saturn=Opel N.A. instead of making this a Chevy.
It’s a good idea and could sell if shoppers are beaten over the head with it. Mazda doesn’t sell many 5s because it’s never advertised. The Mazda5 should be sold at Ford dealers as a Ford model.