Back in March of this year, there was a bit of a buzz around the Opel brand coming out of Europe – and more specifically, Germany – which sort of went into hiatus as other world events dominated the headlines. But here we are at the other end of the year, and Opel is ready to hit the highways with two hero/halo vehicles out of an anticipated half dozen already in showrooms and starting the brand off with verve and enthusiasm.
To be completely frank, there has already been a management shuffle at Opel New Zealand which is overseen by mega-importer Stellantis, parent company to Peugeot and Citroen.
It seems Opel NZ was being watched closely by Stellantis, and, just before the blue touch paper was lit, Noah Robertson was invited to become the nominal head of Opel NZ.
This was a well-considered and frankly, very canny move as Noah is fair crackling with energy for the brand and is a great public face for Opel in this country.
Opel NZ is never going to settle as a mediocre brand. It’s all about being fresh, funky, individualistic and is edging its way to being something of a disruptor brand.
The brand is grounded in the here and now but having spent some time talking with Noah, you should be prepared for things to be not as you might expect of a Euro marque.
The cars themselves – well, the Mokka-e and the Corsa-e which we have seen and driven – have everything that is good about them when it comes to Euro design and build.
They are solid little units, which are probably among the best suited in the market for our potholed roads in terms of their suspensions.
But more on that later. The cars have personalities representative of the brand’s philosophies and direction, described by Noah as bold and pure.
The cars feel a little cheeky, supremely confident in the way they look, drive and handle, they have a timeless modern quality to them and a youthful charm.
If that all sounds like it came from the brochure, it didn’t. These were my initial impressions of the cars and my initial impressions of the brand at its public open day in early November.
And I was more than a little surprised, given that I know something of Opel’s long-standing history.
I’m not going to dwell on it, but Opel has been here before as well as being an automaker from 1899, though it was probably better recognised in 1929 when General Motors encountered it and took the brand under its wing in 1931.
But this is ancient history and most Opel customers for today’s vehicles won’t really care too much about a ‘new to NZ’s’ brand history.
Suffice to say that the cars which today where the electrified lightning bolt representing the Opel name, are not engineered by some random fly-by-night automaker.
The Opel Mokka-e – the most strikingly different vehicle in the Opel line – characterises the brand most aptly.
Demonstrating engineering excellence, agility and reliability, the Mokka-e is balanced and set up to be “Autobahn proof” – able to handle ever decreasing city environments and wide open roads.
The Mokka-e introduces new technology which is a core element of its design and presumably that of future vehicles.
Visually, the very distinctive face of the Mokka-e is referred to as the Opel Vizor in Opel-speak and contributes to the contemporary individuality of the brand and the vehicle.
The Opel Vizor is framed by the latest in headlight technology. This is adaptive IntelliLux LED lighting which goes above and beyond Matrix lighting.
As an integral element of Opel’s halo car, the IntelliLux lights represent Opel’s philosophy of being an innovation accelerator.
There’s more innovations to discover through the Opel range of ICE and electric vehicles and we look forward to bringing them to NZ Company Vehicle readers.
We’re very excited about the Opel brand which appeals to our idea of a genuine fleet offering on many different levels.
