Vauxhall goes electric
Corsa leads eco charge as PSA reveals plans for Brit brand
Vauxhall recovery plan revealed Electrification at core of vision
AN all-new generation of Vauxhall Corsa that will arrive in 2019 and include a fully electric version for the first time is at the core of fresh plans for the British brand announced by its new owner, PSA Group.
PSA, which also owns Peugeot, Citroen and DS, took over Vauxhall and its German sister marque Opel earlier this year. The firm announced last week the results of a 100day review of the business – and it has placed new products and electrification at the heart of its plan for the next decade.
The first new Vauxhall to arrive will be the new Corsa. It’s due in 2019, and will sit on PSA’S CMP platform – a set of chassis parts that will also underpin the likes of the next Peugeot 208 and DS’S new DS 3 Crossback. The plan aims to reduce the number of platforms used by Vauxhall and Opel from the current nine to just two. By rights, these must be the EMP2 chassis that’s used on everything from the Peugeot 308 to the new DS 7 Crossback, and the smaller CMP, which would suit the Corsa.
PSA also confirmed that there will be an electric version of the Corsa on sale in 2020. This is all but certain to be a pureelectric vehicle, because CMP has not been designed to accommodate complex, expensive plug-in hybrid technology.
Vauxhall and Opel issued a teaser image to accompany the announcement, showing how their design team – led by Briton Mark Adams – is working to adapt styling to the new platform and electrification. Our exclusive image shows how this treatment could be adapted to the new Corsa EV.
Around the same time as the electric Corsa, Vauxhall will also launch a plug-in hybrid version of its Grandland X – taking advantage of the fact that this model is already based on the EMP2 platform.
The new-model blitz will bring nine new body styles or mid-life facelifts by 2020. And every one of Vauxhall’s models will sit on one of the PSA platforms, and feature electrification, by 2024. PSA also aims to cut the number of engine and gearbox families in the Vauxhall and Opel line-ups from ten to four. “Aligning architecture and powertrain families will substantially reduce development and production complexity, thus allowing scale effects and synergies, contributing to overall profitability,” said the brands’ boss, Michael Lohscheller.
Some Vauxhall models, such as the recently launched Insignia Grand Sport and current Astra, are being hastily revised to take advantage of CO2 emissions gains offered by PSA tech – and because the new owner wants to avoid licence fees it has to pay on every Gm-based product it sells. The current Mokka X is likely to be axed as a result – while the Astra and Insignia could be replaced unusually early, by the turn of the decade. Auto Express understands that a new Insignia is the vehicle in the “D-segment” that the management confirmed for a switch to EMP2, and for production in Russelsheim, in Germany.
PSA’S plan also includes a further “Emp2-based SUV planned for 2019”; this will be a seven-seat SUV, in effect a sister car to the Peugeot 5008 and a resurrection of a project that Vauxhall and Opel were working on at the time of the takeover.
PSA’S boss Carlos Tavares has stressed that “tough decisions” will need to be made, but Vauxhall-opel’s management says it is committed to keeping factories open (see panel) and avoiding compulsory redundancies. Lohscheller also reiterated his commitment to the Vauxhall badge.
“There is clear brand positioning,” the boss explained. “Opel will stay German and Vauxhall will stay British.”