Driven at the Paris Motor Show: GM to send Opel Downunder

A third of Holden's future models in Australasia will come from Opel.

German brand to help fill gap in Holden production

While the focus for German brand Opel was its three-door hatchback Corsa, away from the Paris motor show display talk was on the products heading for New Zealand.

With production of the Australian-made Holden Commodore to cease by 2017, the GM-led company needs to fill its car yards with products.

So it has announced that a third of Holden's future models will come from its Opel branch.

The first three cars to arrive in New Zealand next year will be the Insignia sedan, Cascada convertible and the Astra high-spec GTC and VXR.

Executive vice-president and president of GM Europe Karl-Thomas Neumann made the announcement at the first day of the Paris Motor Show to the New Zealand and Australian media in a press conference.

"I'm very excited about the role our great products will play in the resurgence of the Holden brand, by being able to provide more than one-third of Holden's future product line-up," said Neumann.

GM's president, former Waikato farm boy Dan Ammann, told Driven at the Paris Motor Show that the Australasian region is a focus of the Detroit-based car company.

• View the Driven Paris Motor Show gallery here

"As a company we haven't done a very good job about being systemic, we're going to be more expansive moving forward," he said.

"In hindsight, the strength of Commodore may have taken focus off the rest of the portfolio in the marketplace."

Neumann agreed that the region needed attention.

"The Australian [and New Zealand] market and Holden brand is important for General Motors. One of the responsibilities of Opel is now to supply certain models," he said.

Neumann said Holden would be able to tweak suspension settings and do minor adjustments to tailor the car for the Australasian market.

Ammann told Driven that Holden's testing facility at Australia's Lang Lang track will be used to calibrate the Opel products for Downunder.

• Driven will be testing the NZ-bound Opel vehicles this week in Britain.

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