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Google Street View car versus The Stig in Mercedes SLS is not a fair fight

Everyone loves the Stig, and it's hard to blame them. Whether it is the British, American, Australian or even Russian versions of Top Gear, there is something undeniably cool about a mystery man who can lap a track as quick as the top racing drivers in the world.
When Google Street View showed up at the Top Gear test track to add it to the mapping service, the Stig was also there in a white Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. He drifts around the little Opel like it's standing still and puts on quite a show for the cameras.
You can check out the video below, along with the Google Street View map of the whole lap. Enjoy!

Opel Adam sales 'exceeded expectations' in 2013, helped Opel nudge market share

Sales funk? What sales funk? When we last touched on the Opel Adam, we noted that after strong early demand, sales were reportedly less than had been hoped for. However, Opel has stepped forward to counter that thought, noting that sales of the stylishly customizable minicar have reportedly exceeded parent General Motors' original projections, with around 21,000 sold in Germany last year alone.
According to Automotive News, along with the Adam, the Opel Mokka subcompact CUV (better known in North America as the Buick Encore) has also performed well, with both models helping Opel improve its market share ever so slightly in Germany and Europe as a whole. Opel's piece of the German pie increased 0.1 percent to an even 7 percent, while the brand's share of European sales grew from 5.59 percent up to 5.61 percent. While gains on both fronts are small, they're steps in the right direction, particularly given Europe's difficult auto market. Scroll down for Opel's brief press release.

Opel files trademarks for Cascada, Calibra... in the US

General Motors has toyed with a variety of ways to sell Opel products outside of continental Europe, sending them to the UK as Vauxhall products, to Australia with Holden badges, and even back to North America as Saturn models. But these days, Opel has been cozying up to Buick. That's how models like the Insignia (rebadged as Regal) and Mokka (sold here as Encore) make their way to American showrooms, but it doesn't look like GM is about to stop there.
Recent filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office unearthed by Motor Trend reveal that GM has applied to register the nameplates Cascada and Calibra here in America. Intriguingly, it has filed the trademarks through the Opel division itself, and not through Buick or one of its other North American brands, but it's more likely that the General is trying to cover its tracks rather than contemplating relaunching the Opel brand in the US.
The Cascada name is currently in service on a four-seat cabriolet which Opel sells in Europe and Vauxhall does in Britain, and which Buick has long been rumored to possibly sell in North America. But the Calibra name hasn't been used in over a decade. It previously referred to a coupe based on the Opel Vectra, and was also sold by Holden in Australia and Chevrolet in South America. Just what (if anything) GM plans to do in America with a nameplate that isn't even in use overseas remains to be seen, but the prospect of a Buick coupe (whether based on the Cascada or otherwise) doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility. Of course, GM could simply be protecting its intellectual property with no intention of actually selling any two-door Buicks in North America, but we'll just have to wait and see which way the wind blows.

Opel execs wonder how recent GM moves will alter their business

The ship called Opel has been heaving through a storm, non-stop, for more than a decade. The aborted sale in 2009 when General Motors decided it could do better than potential buyers only led to estimates of up to $20 billion in costs to GM, more years of turnaround plans, retreat from global markets and churn at the CEO position. It was thought that this year, with Karl-Thoman Neumann at the helm, the promise of a $5.2 billion investment, the withdrawal of the Chevrolet brand from Europe and a bit of breathing room, it could finally settle into a calmer rhythm. According to a report in Reuters, recent moves at GM have Opel execs worried that that might not be the case.
Opel has been asking to make more Euro-centric offerings in order to compete with rivals. But the appointment of Mary Barra to the top slot at GM and her past experience at harmonizing product development, as well as former boss Stephen Girksy's departure as GM vice chairman, has insiders worried that they'll be pushed even more to make do with global product. On top of that, their best chance of getting specialized goods took a hit when GM began to untie its bond with PSA/Peugeot-Citroën that had promised a new compact-car platform. The Corsa, a model that Opel needs to do well but can't because it's seven years old, was hit hardest by that news.
These facts mean that the multibillion-dollar investment won this year to develop 23 models and 13 engines over the next two years will need to go further. GM told Reuters "there [is] no change in its stance on Opel," but, as an analyst said, "Rebuilding a weak brand takes years of delivering outstanding product." The question is whether GM's stance - and its commitment to Euro-focused product - will stay consistent long enough to give Neumann and Opel a real shot.

Opel brings in Valentino Rossi, Bryan Adams to jazz up the Adam

Every notice than when an automaker brings in a fashion designer or celebrity to "design" one of its cars - and by "design", we mean give them fancy paintjobs - it's almost always a European city car? If it's not a Mini for the Life Ball, it's a special Renault Twingo, a '60s-style Alfa MiTo by an Italian artist or a Fiat 500 by Gucci. This time it's the turn of the Opel Adam, which GM's European brand has done up in collaboration with two well-known entities.
The first one, pictured above, is the result of a collaboration between MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi and designer Aldo Drudi. Done up with chrome and neon yellow, the special Opel features Rossi's signature and number 46 on the hood and an interior decked out in Dainese lather like Rossi's riding gear. Unveiled at the EICMA motorcycle show in Milan, this unique take on the Adam is being auctioned off on eBay to raise money for the Meyer Children's Hospital in Florence.
The second collaboration brings in a name you may not have heard of in a while: Bryan Adams. Not to be confused with Ryan Adams (the American singer), Bryan Adams is Canada's biggest rock star, but after gaining fame for tracks like "Cuts Like a Knife", "Summer of '69" and "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", the multi-Grammy Award-winning musician turned to photography, shooting everyone from Michael J Fox and Dustin Hoffmann to Amy Winehouse and Queen Elizabeth II.

GM winding down Chevrolet brand in Europe

If you've taken even a cursory look at GM's European strategy and wondered how it can target the market there with both Chevrolet and Opel/Vauxhall, you're not alone. In fact General Motors itself has found it difficult to justify the two-pronged approach. That's why it's essentially pulling Chevy from the European marketplace.
Instead of trying to ply European buyers with what are mostly former Daewoo products rebadged as Chevys, GM will now let Opel (or Vauxhall in the UK) represent its mass-market aspirations. Chevrolet will keep its presence in Russia and other former Soviet markets, and will continue selling certain niche products in Eastern and Western Europe. The Corvette, for example, has long been sold in Europe through Cadillac dealerships, which for its part is currently "finalizing plans for expanding in the European market".
While the shift in strategy is expected to help GM get a stronger foothold in the European market in the long run, in the short term the restructuring will cost it dearly: between $700 million and $1 billion, according to its own estimates, split between the last quarter of this year and the first half of the next. Jump into the full press release below for more.

GM, Peugeot strains kills joint small car, possibly whole alliance

The relationship between General Motors and PSA/Peugeot Citroën got off to a bumpy start last year, and Automotive News says that the tie-up between the two automakers will be short-lived. Heavy losses from both companies is causing the alliance to be scaled back, but PSA's talks with China's Dongfeng could kill the deal altogether.
Originally, about 40 shared vehicles were planned between Opel, Peugeot and Citroën, but the report says that, in the end, only two will make it to production - small vans like the Opel Meriva and Citroën C4 Picasso. For now, GM and PSA will continue a joint purchasing agreement, but this means that co-developed versions of the next-gen Opel Corsa, Peugeot 208 and Citroën C3 small cars are dead. Instead, another AN report says that GM will intensify its efforts to develop future Opel products on its own, which includes said next-gen Corsa that will reportedly switch from its current Fiat-based platform to GM's Global Gamma platform shared with the Chevy Spark and Buick Encore.
It isn't clear what would happen with the shared vehicles and joint purchasing, though, if Dongfeng manages to acquire a 30-percent stake in PSA/Peugeot Citroën. Dongfeng is a Chinese rival to SAIC Motor, which works with GM in China. While this soured deal mostly has implications for small cars in Europe, we wonder what it means for GM's fullsize commercial van plans in the US.

2013 Opel Adam

General Motors currently finds itself in the great position of having a lot of very good small cars in its US lineup. Less than a decade ago, the eight-branded automaker couldn't have enough trucks, SUVs and vans, but now it finds models like the Chevy Sonic and Cruze, Buick Encore and Verano, and Cadillac ATS (not a "small car" by definition, but the smallest for Caddy) garnering praise from the press and sales from consumers. Just across the Atlantic sits another great small car, the Opel Adam.
Now, Old GM would have likely done a rush, badge-engineering job (something in line with the Pontiac G3 or Saturn Astra), but the leaner, smarter New GM seems to be content with letting the Adam stay a European-only offering. Of course there's nowhere for the car to go, really. With Pontiac and Saturn gone, the Adam doesn't really fit into the Buick image and Chevy already has the Spark as its minicar. Even though sales of the Adam seem to be in a funk, this is a fun little hatchback that could put some real competition on style-driven cars like the Fiat 500 and Mini Cooper here in the States.
After spending time with the Opel Cascada last month (a convertible that seems to be destined for a Buick showroom at some point), I also got to drive the Adam, which, if you're wondering, gets its name from the founder of Opel, Adam Opel.

Opel readying Adam model with SUV cues

The Opel Adam, the microcar of General Motors' European subsidiary, has seen its sales cool significantly since it first hit the market in the United Kingdom and Europe, but a push is reportedly under way that just might be enough to get the stylish, little car moving again.
Using the Opel Adam Rocks Concept as a template, Opel will ruggedize the Adam, so that it might compete with the growing herd of city cars that sport SUV styling, like the Volkswagen Cross Up and Fiat Panda 4x4, according to a report from Automotive News Europe. Sporting a bumped-up ride height and tougher body work, it's a dedicated soft-roader, but will freshen the Adam's lineup and, hopefully, broaden its customer appeal.
The Adam Rocks, according to IHS Automotive analyst Ian Fletcher, should also make some more coin for GM's struggling European arm. "Automakers are happy to meet demand for SUV and crossovers as the customer pays a premium," Fletcher told ANE. And although the Rocks might have been planned from the start as a production vehicle, the timing, with the Adam's sales slowdown, doesn't seem like a coincidence.

Opel Adam in sales funk following strong early response?

Opel had an early hit with the Adam, a minicar named after the company's founder, but it appears sales are now tapering off, leading the General Motors-owned German brand to ease off production.
German Car Scene reported yesterday that slow sales have stung the handsome Adam, with only 1,226 cars sold in August, which GCS argues is due to the car's relatively high starting price relative to the competition. The Adam starts at 11,500 euro ($15,627), whereas a microcar like the Volkswagen Up! is only about 10,000 euro ($13,589). Rumors are that the slowdown has forced Opel to trim a week of production at the Adam's Eisenach factory.
Opel contests the reason for altering factory production, telling Automotive News Europe Adam - which is also sold in the UK with a Vauxhall badge - sales are "fine," before adding, "We are having some down days in October, mainly because of the Corsa production, a model which is in the later stages of its life cycle."