Opel Corsa The Accident World Car PDF

Over the years, the Corsa has become one of the best selling cars around the world, changing its name, body style, suspension, or engines depending on whether it is sold to Europeans, Brazilians, Indians, or South Africans. After impressive worldwide sales of the first two Corsa model generations, the current model line, introduced in the fall of 2000, has now boosted total Corsa output to more than 11 million cars. 1 Over a half million Corsas are expected to be produced each year, which constitutes an eighth of GM’s entire world output. 2 The Corsa is one of the most successful models in GM Opel’s history since it was introduced in 1993. In addition to receiving over twenty international design awards, the Corsa has been Europe’s top-selling small car since 1994. Corsa has held sales leadership positions in Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Portugal. GM Europe’s past President, Louis Hughes, called Corsa “the right car for the right time because it combines the fuel economy of a small car with roominess, comfort and safety of a larger automobile.”3 This small car is sold in approximately 80 countries and manufactured in 16 plants on five continents. The Corsa’s first assembly plant was established in Zaragoza, Spain.

Then GM expanded to other production facilities around the globe, using old tooling from its Germany and Spain plants to build in other less developed regions. Some of these assembly facilities build Corsas using complete knock down (CKD) or kits of the vehicle components imported from the Brazilian assembly plants. Some of the locations where the Corsa is sold outside of Europe include: Australia, South Africa, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, China, India, and Egypt. Most of these locations have assembly facilities that build Corsa products in order to meet local content requirements or avoid trade barriers. Why is this car so adaptable to the various markets? GM Opel used one of the main guidelines for designing global products. The designers maximized the size of the common global core, while allowing for customization around the core for local adaptation in different regions. 4 In other words, they offer the same product, with minor content changes, in many different countries. The product standardization comes primarily from the “platform”, which consists of the body- in-white and common locating and connection points for major component systems. There are three drivers that provided the main stimulus for GM to create this globally standardized small car: common customer needs, cost reduction, and trade policies. I. Common Customer Needs A lot of people in Europe and many other regions, including many South American areas, have the same need for a cheap entry-level car.

Consumers around the world, except in the U.S., are buying smaller cars. Corsa is the affordable small car that offers a wealth of options. Buyers can choose from six engines, automatic or manual transmissions, and different suspension packages. The Corsa sells with six equipment levels: Club, GLS, SXi, Comfort, Elegance, and Sporty SRi. It offers three suspension levels that are tied to six different powertrain offerings (i.e. 1.2L, 1.0L, 1.4L, 1.8L, and two turbo diesel 1.7L engines). As one reporter described the Corsa, “It’s an Average Car for Mr. And Mrs. Average”. 5 The Corsa is a satisfactory point-to-point car. It is pleasantly spacious and has the competition beat when it comes to packaging. The Corsa was initially designed mainly for Europe and Brazil. GM de Brasil (GMB) was the first region to receive Corsa outside of Europe. The region removed all of the European required safety content in order to lower cost. GMB added the 1.0L engine to take advantage of the “popular car” tax break in Brazil for vehicles with engines 1.0L or under. China took the Corsa and made it much more upscale than models in Europe by slightly modifying the interior and badging it as the Buick Sail. In addition to offering terrific option packages, Corsa was viewed as stylish when compared to other boxy small cars. By focusing on European and South American consumer’s needs when designing the car, GM created a universal design. In both of these markets, there is a strong need for smaller cars.

The main reason the Corsa has been successful is because it has always been a stylish small car with an international flavor to its design. With styling that was appealing around the globe and its platform base, the Corsa was easily introduced into different markets with minor changes in content offerings. In summary, Opel addressed common customer needs by focusing its efforts on two areas or “bullet points” on the product model where they were better than the competition. 6 These two “bullet points”, packaging (i.e. content) and styling, seemed to provide the Corsa with a competitive advantage in the small car market. II. Cost Reduction High product development costs act as a globalization driver, especially in the automotive industry. A common “platform”, engineering, and technologies all allowed GM to reduce the cost of the Corsa. Developing this type of platform can account for thirty percent of the total development cost of a new vehicle. 7 Opel’s architecture or “platform” for the Corsa was just the starting point; regions modified Corsa to meet their local preferences. The base architecture and engineering remains the same, but each region chooses different engine, transmissions, suspensions, and other components to make the car locally acceptable. Approximately forty percent of the Corsa’s content is shared around the globe.

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