Vauxhall Corsa due another generation as firm backs superminis

Vauxhall is committed to producing superminis in the B-segment and has no plans to exit this area of the market as its great rival the Ford Fiesta has, design boss Mark Adams has confirmed.

The revised Vauxhall Corsa has just been revealed and a successor will be forthcoming later in the decade. Speaking at a showcase for the new model, Adams said Vauxhall being part of Stellantis was key for it being able to commit to a future in the supermini segment.

“It’s scale and smart sharing,” said Adams, when asked how Vauxhall was able to make a success still out of superminis.

Adams added that while the Corsa might have a close relationship in areas hidden to customers underneath to the likes of the Peugeot 208 and Citroen C3, the customers would not be able to tell the relationship between the cars in areas that mattered to them.

“We’re fortunate for the economies of scale to allow us to do things the customer doesn’t care about but then also doing things they do care about with the brand.”

Indeed, Adams said that Stellantis didn’t just create one ‘toolbox’ with an architecture for each brand to make their own model, they made “one and a half toolboxes, which allows brands to then add their own bits on”.

Vauxhall was now realising its goal of becoming an upper mainstream brand, seen it the higher transaction prices paid by buyers and improvements to the brand image, products and profitability, but Adams said Vauxhall had no plans to push to become a premium brand and desert its existing customer base.