Opel/Vauxhall Set to Launch 29 New Vehicles in Europe by 2022
GM CEO Mary Barra at the Frankfurt Motor Show
Photo: © General Motors
The all-new Opel Astra made its world debut at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show, and it represents the first step in General Motors end-game of becoming the second biggest automaker in Europe by 2022. One of the final steps, it would seem, will be the introduction of a new flagship SUV.
GM CEO Mary Barra, who was on-hand to debut the Opel Astra Sports Tourer, says that the company’s plan from 2016 to 2020 entails launching 29 new vehicles between the Opel and Vauxhall brands. Among these new vehicles will be a new electric vehicle—presumably the Bolt—and a second flagship vehicle.
Barra said that this new flagship would be an all-new SUV would be produced in Rüsselsheim by the end of the decade, and that it would “give the brand a further technological boost.” Whether this entails a hybrid/electric powertrain, a new generation of in-vehicle connectivity, improved autonomous driving functions, or some combination of these factors, remains to be seen.
“We’ll see more changes in the auto industry in the next five to ten years than we saw in the past 50 years,” said Barra. Among these changes: a move toward crash-free roadways through increasingly complex and intuitive active safety systems.
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