Opel’s new Karl keeps it in the family

Opel has announced the name of its new city car, a model that will replace the defunct Agila in the lineup. Following on from the naming of Opel's Mini-competitor as Adam, after the man who originally founded Opel as a bicycle maker, the new small car will be called Karl, after one of Adam Opel's sons.

The three brothers Opel (Wilhelm, Friedrich and, somewhat alphabetically confusingly, Carl-with-a-C) turned the bike maker into a car company in 1898 and Opel will be hopeful that the name will give its new small car a friendly mien. “Karl is a short, snappy and catchy name that represents Opel brand values: German, emotional and approachable,” said Tina Müller, Chief Marketing Officer at Opel.

The Karl will share its underpinnings with the next-generation of Chevrolet Spark, and will use a range of 1.2 and 1.4-litre petrol engines, as well as a new 1.0-litre turbo petrol. A diesel version is unlikely to be offered.

Opel won't use the car's smal size to shrink its price down to Dacia levels, but will instead compete with the likes of the Hyundai i10 and VW Up in the traditional 'city car' segment. Opel boss Karl-Thomas Neumann has previously indicated that he sees huge opportunities for Opel in the affordable small car segment, in spite of Opel's continuing push to align itself as a quasi-premium brand to compete with VW. The Karl name could also be somthing of a risk, as giving a small car a person's name hasn't done the Adam much good. In the first quarter of this year, the Adam was outsold in Europe by the ageing Fiat 500 by a ratio of almost three-to-one.

Significantly, unlike the Adam, Opel's British cousin, Vauxhall, hasn't seen fit fit to use the Karl name. Instead, it's going to revive the old Viva name, last applied to a somewhat lacklustre range of small saloons, which went out of production in 1979.