Opel Karl: Outgrowing Puberty

2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 05:39

Opel presented the new small car Karl in Geneva on Monday. The latest model from the Rüsselsheim company is a car with an astonishingly large amount of space and a fair price.

Von Frank Mertens

Opel wants to keep growing - and the small car Karl plays a decisive role in this. Because with Karl, the people of Rüsselsheim are on the move in a segment that is the fastest growing. No wonder that Opel Germany sales manager Jürgen Keller said in an interview with Autogazette that Karl would be a pleasure.

The new Opel Karl will celebrate its official public premiere next Thursday at the Geneva Motor Show. This Monday, the Rüsselsheim-based company presented its latest model at a preliminary event in a hotel at Geneva Airport. “We are assuming that the car will find buyers in southern Europe,” said Martin Golka, product manager for the small car family at Opel.

Italy, Germany and England are the most important markets

The car manufacturer expects Italy, Germany and Great Britain to be among the most important markets for the new Opel Karl. “We expect that these markets will account for around 60 percent of total sales,” says Golka.

After Opel first launched the Adam and just recently the new Corsa, the Karl completes the small car family of the Rüsselsheim-based company. While the Adam is more the lifestyle car, the Karl is the car for common sense. Wherever you have to compromise on the Adam’s trunk volume (170 liters) due to its design, the Karl’s practicality reigns supreme. It has at least a trunk volume of 200 liters (the final decision has not yet been made) and has a slightly lower loading sill than the lifestyle runabout. The small car, which is almost 3.70 meters long, offers a surprising amount of space in the interior - even in the rear two adults can sit more or less comfortably.

Gain new clients

With the new Karl, Opel hopes to bring new customers to the brand. Just because of the price: the basic version of the Opel Karl for the 1.0 three-cylinder with 75 hp starts at 9500 euros. “The price,” said Golka, “was deliberately chosen well below 10,000 euros.” And then clearly mine. “We didn't want a sham package with a price of 9,990 euros, but a really attractive, honest offer for the customer.” Opel believes that this was achieved with the Karl. “It is sensational that we have been able to offer such a car at such a price,” said Head of Sales Keller.

The Karl not only comes up with an efficient three-cylinder petrol engine that is supposed to consume just 4.3 liters (CO2 emissions 99 g / km) over 100 kilometers in combined consumption. Rather, Opel is pursuing the same strategy with the Karl that is already being followed with the Corsa: namely, bringing technologies from the luxury class into smaller segments. It not only has a hill start assistant, but also a lane departure warning system. A warning tone sounds when you leave the lane - an important safety feature.

Neumann: A grown-up car

In addition, Opel also offers a cruise control, a parking pilot, a city mode for power steering and cornering lights. Of course, the Karl also offers the Intelli-Link system, with which the smartphone can be connected to the infotainment system. Opel believes that these features will make the hearts of small car drivers beat faster. Opel boss Karl-Thomas Neumann then speaks of his new entry-level model as a thoroughly grown-up car with typical Opel virtues. "It starts with the high-torque, quiet one-liter three-cylinder and does not end with the numerous, atypical safety and comfort features," says Neumann. For him, the Karl is the ideal car for price-conscious customers.

As Martin Golka says, Opel expects that customers will spend an average of 12,500 euros on their Karl in the Edition equipment variant and will have an average age of 50 years.

At Opel, the assumption is that Karl's customers, unlike Adam's, don't configure their vehicle in a great way, but rather buy vehicles ordered by the dealer. At the same time, according to Golka, Karl should appeal to both sexes equally. "While around 70 percent of Adam's customers are women, we expect a 50:50 distribution for Karl."