Opel Adam, not Junior

11 July 2012 update
For more details of the Adam city car, please see this post:
Vauxhall Adam first view

Opel has confirmed that its new city car is to be called the Adam, presumably in honour of the company’s founder. It had previously been known as the Junior, but GM is now saying that that was just an internal codename.

The Adam moniker will also be applied to the Vauxhall version. This makes less sense, but it does at least maintain the policy of identical model names across both brands.

GM is pitching the Adam as a ‘premium urban car’, and buyers will be encouraged to personalise both the interior and exterior.

Smaller than the Corsa supermini, its intended rivals are the stylish Fiat 500 and Mini Hatch. There’s no doubting the ambition then, and it signals an intention to shift the Vauxhall and Opel marques more upmarket - a move that’s needed to help further differentiate them from sister brand Chevrolet in Europe.

Although technical details have yet to be announced, it’s likely that power will come from a range of three-cylinder petrol and diesel engines.

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Image © General Motors.
Text © Autoesque.