The internal project within GM’s Opel division, based in Germany, to develop a more luxurious SUV that could have possibly made its way to our shores as a new addition to the Holden line-up have seemed to have stalled under the stewardship of the PSA Group, which have finalised a deal to take control of both the Opel and Vauxhall brands.
After clinching the deal, the incoming French-based owners assured that it would do all it can to keep operations as they are, doing little to interfere. While there’s near zero indication that it has made any sweeping day-to-day changes, the surfacing of this new luxury SUV project being shelved is the first bit of news to emerge following the transition of ownership.
According to Auto Express, the car itself would have been based on the same global E2XX platform that underpins the new Holden Commodore and several other cars under the General Motors umbrella, such as the Buick Regal and Chevrolet Malibu (naming conflict much?).
Reportedly, prior to being canned the SUV was known within Opel as the Monza, sharing a moniker to another Opel model, a two-door coupe from the late 70s, and would locally trade blows with models like the Ford Edge, second-generation Peugeot 5008, and second-generation Volkswagen Tiguan, using its apparently “dramatic” styling and “plush interior” to sway buyers as the range-topping high-rider.
PSA, says well-placed sources in the aforementioned report, are currently putting all GM-related projects within Opel (especially the ones in their earlier stages) on ice as it presumably consolidates its resources and comes to grips with how they’d like to push the company forward.
The presence of the Peugeot 5008, though, might actually be the primary reason why Opel’s new parent company has chosen to freeze the project. As the Pug is still new to the market, perhaps the prospect of a new Opel product cannibalising potential sales, particularly in Germany, was something they couldn’t tolerate.
There’s a possibility, though, that the progress made in differentiating this more luxurious SUV will yet materialise as a new Opel model, albeit one built atop their EMP2 platform and thus would be very much related to the 5008.
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